Resentment
by ObrienLover24
Summary: Lydia Martin has hated the popular kid, Stiles Stilinski since he so harshly rejected her in her freshman year. Luckily for her, she hasn't had to speak to him up until senior year. That is until she befriends Kira Yukimura, Stiles' best friend Scott's girlfriend. Lydia's P.O.V! No supernatural! Please review :) (There is Allison in there)
1. Chapter 1

_This is the first chapter so go easy on me! :D Please give it a chance and review telling me what you think :D Thank you for reading!_

I pushed open the doors to the school building, dreading having to go through my first day as a senior alone. After my best friend Allison's mother died, her dad thought it would be a good idea to move from California to New York and to my surprise, she agreed with him. Her flight had left the night before and we had said out goodbyes, her promising me that we would text all the time and skype every night. This was my first day of being without her.

My first few classes were boring. They all were either introducing a new teacher or just discussing our syllabus for the semester. Even though they were tedious, I wasn't looking forward to lunch time. Besides Allison, I didn't really have any other friends. I had Danny but he had only just gotten with a new boyfriend and I didn't want to intrude on their quality time together. I had a break in between the third and fourth lessons but that didn't last for very long and most people spent it alone anyway, so I didn't look that out of place. Lunch break was a different story…

When the bell for lunch rang, everybody but me breathed out in relief. I stood up quickly, hoping that I could find somewhere to sit where nobody could really see me.

"Lydia!" A girl shouted just as I got to the door. I knew who it was, it was Kira. She was super popular and judging by the people she hangs out with, Allison and I had come to the conclusion that she was most likely a bitch. I groaned internally as I turned to face her, a fake smile on my lips.

"Hey, how are you?" she beamed as she stopped a few inches away from me. At first I didn't know what to say – why was she talking to me?

"I'm okay", I forced myself to answer, "How are you?"

"Good thanks", she brushed her hair behind her ear in a way that I could tell she knew she looked good.

"Can I… help you?" I didn't want to be rude but I was seriously curious to why she was even speaking to me. I wasn't exactly popular…

"Sorry", she laughed, "I heard about Allison moving away and I know you don't have many other friends", she started to ramble and I felt kind of irritated at her bluntness. She paused, reading the annoyance on my face and taking a deep breath in. "My point is, do you want to hang out with us this lunch?"

My heart jumped as I tried to make sure I hadn't misheard her. "You mean, eat with you guys?" I probably sounded stupid but I needed to make sure. One of the most popular girls at this school just asked _me_ to eat lunch with her – could you blame me?

"Well yeah. I mean, if you want to", she replied, smiling warmly at me.

"Sure", I squeaked, not doing a very good job at hiding my excitement. I definitely had to tell Allison about this when we skyped. Kira took my arm in hers and starting skipping towards the lunch hall with me. We talked on the way. Well, she spoke and I listened. She spoke a lot.

"You have really pretty eyes", she informed me as I sat down opposite her.

"Thanks", I grinned awkwardly, not used to being complimented by people like her but luckily she was too intrigued in her salad to notice it.

It didn't take long for the rest of her clique to file into the hall. Each one of them eyed me suspiciously as they sat down and then sent Kira questioning looks. I stared down at my plate; feeling intimidated by their cold stares. When I finally brought myself to look up again, Kira was no longer opposite me. She had moved seats in order to sit next to Scott and in her place, sat Stiles Stilinski. He was watching me intently as he chewed into an apple. Of course… why did it have to be him? Did he even remember me?

"Kira, who is she?" Another girl on the table, who I recognised to be called Malia, finally asked. Everyone's eyes, including Stiles', flicked over to Kira but she didn't mind the attention. She seemed to actually kind of enjoy it.

"Her name is Lydia. I invited her to sit with us", she shrugged, biting the salad that sat on her fork. I felt relieved that she hadn't included the part about Allison in there; I didn't want everyone thinking that I was only here because she felt sorry for me, even though that's all it most likely was.

"Hey Lydia, I'm Scott", Scott reached his arm over the table to shake my hand. I shook it and nodded at him in greeting, not bothering to let him know that I already knew who he was. I already knew who all of them were.

"I'm Malia" Malia sighed as she said it, like it was an effort to talk to me but she had to do it.

"Stiles", the boy gave me a small wave and then went back to his apple. Confusion wavered over me – did he seriously not remember being my lab partner for so long and the _public_ humiliation he caused me when he rejected me?

"I was your lab partner for _two_ years", I told him bitterly. He looked at me for a second and his eyes squinted, drifting towards the ceiling as if he were deep in thought. Anger raked through me and I almost stood up and hit him right that second. After several minutes of thinking, he finally looked back at me.

"You were?" he had a hint of a smirk on his lips, making my blood boil. He knew exactly who I was and he remembered me. I could tell just by the look in his eyes.

Before I did something that I would later regret, I stood up and stormed out of the canteen. I eventually found myself at the thick tree trunk that I always sat on when Allison would give me her latest gossip. I slumped onto it and breathed in and out deeply, releasing the adrenaline that Stiles had built inside my veins. The only reason he had this effect on me was because I used to be in love with him. Literally _in love_ but when I finally told him, instead of kindly saying he didn't feel the same way he just harshly and coldly said 'No'. Nothing else, just 'No'.

"Lydia", Kira jogged up to me and crouched down. "Don't let him bother you, he can be a piece of work sometimes", she laughed. I forced a smile; she was trying to cheer me up.

"Please don't let him get to you. I still want to get to know you better", she gently rubbed my knee and I instantly felt terrible for all of the things I used to think about her being a bitch. She actually seemed to be so far from it.

"You do?" I looked up at her to see if her face showed any signs of teasing or joking but I couldn't see any.

"Of course!" she giggled, "Will you hang out with me tomorrow or has Stiles pushed you away?" she coked one eyebrow in question.

I thought for a moment. I wanted to get to know Kira better but I really didn't want to be around Stiles. "Sure", I breathed out before I could change my mind. It was sort of stupid how angry Stiles made me and I needed to get over it. "I'd like that".

After school I lay on my bed, hoping that Allison would skype me. I didn't want to skype her first because I knew she would want to settle down and unpack before she did anything but I really wanted to talk to her; I missed her like hell.

It was 9:30pm when my laptop sounded with the skype tune and I practically jumped off my bed to get to the computer and answer it. As soon as I saw her picture of us at the beach, I answered the call and jumped back onto my bed, resting the laptop on my knee and waiting for it to connect.

"Hey!" I squealed excitedly as her figure appeared on the screen, sitting on the floor cross-legged. Her eyes looked tired but her smile was lively and happy.

"Hey!" she beamed, fidgeting until she was lying on her stomach with her chin in her hands.

"How's New York?" I asked, taking in the fact that she would have arrived a while ago and her boxed were still unpacked. Part of me, as selfish as it sounded, hoped that they weren't unpacked because she hated it there and was coming back home.

"It's great!" she smiled even wider. My heart sunk slightly until I realised how happy she looked. "Everywhere is super nice and there's this kid that lives next door, I think he said his name was Isaac, that's just sooo cute and he's helping me and my dad unpack tomorrow!" she gushed, her tired eyes lighting up despite the fact it had to be like, midnight over there.

"Aww, had Allison got a crush already?" I teased and she blushed.

"Shut up!" she giggled. "So what about you? how was the first day as a senior?" her camera wobbled as she jumped onto her bed and pulled her sheets up to her chin.

"Ugh, Stiles is such a dick!" I complained and she rolled her eyes playfully.

"Tell me something I don't know!" she laughed. She had been my only comfort when everybody teased me after Stiles' rejection and to comfort me was a full time job!

"I'm going to", I grinned and she raised her eyebrows expectantly. "Kira Yukimura invited me to eat lunch with her and the 'clique'" I told her. "And she wants to hang out with me tomorrow"

"Kira Yukimura?" Allison sounded shocked and I didn't blame her. "Who else was there? Was Scott there?"

I laughed at her automatic referral to Scott. She had a crush on him while she was here but I guess she had found someone else by the sounds of it. "Yes, Scott was there. So was Malia and Stiles", I made an ick sound after saying his name and she laughed.

"You still love him really", she mocked, making kisses faces and I rolled my eyes.

"Or not!" I pulled a face and Allison laughed.

"Speaking of him, why is he a dick this time?" she smiled her 'waiting for gossip' smile that she always does and I rolled my eyes and laughed.

"He introduced himself to me earlier and when I told him we had been lab partners for two years, he pretended he didn't even remember me but I could tell by his face that he did!" I ranted, feeling the anger run through me again.

"Isn't it a good thing that he didn't mention the fact he rejected you in front of his friends?" she reasoned, "It was in freshman year, are you really still mad at him?"

"He really hurt me, Allison!" I felt tears sting my eyes at the memory of everybody laughing at me.

"He was a stupid kid, he's probably changed since then. Just be nice to him and see how it goes", she suggested. "Give him another chance"

I thought about it for a second, taking in what she said. "I may give him a second chance, but I can't promise I'll be nice to him", I winked and we both laughed.

Maybe she was right: maybe Stiles had changed. All I knew was that it was going to take a hell of a lot of proving it for me to ever like him the way I used to again.


	2. Chapter 2

I woke up with my laptop still on my knees but the screen was black. I couldn't remember which point, but sometime last night Allison and I must have both fallen asleep. I stretched my arms and grabbed my phone to check the time. It was 7:00am – thank god for my body clock! I had forgotten to set an alarm.

Rolling out of bed, I hopped into the shower for twenty minutes and then threw some clothes and make-up on. My eyes were practically closed as I waited for the coffee to boil.

"Morning", my mom called cheerfully as she walked into the kitchen, grabbing an apple from the fruit basket and throwing it into her handbag for later. She worked at my school as a substitute teacher and I had no idea how she managed to wake up even earlier than me and remain happy each morning.

"Morning", I yawned as I poured the, now finally boiled, delightful brown drink into a mug and took a huge gulp.

"I'm heading to work", mom told me as she picked up the car keys from their special hook, "And sweetheart, you really need to cut down on that stuff", she pointed at my mug and then slipped out of the door.

I downed the rest of the coffee, feeling the energy already kicking in and then I lifted my bag from the corner table in the hallway and placed it on my shoulder. The walk to school wasn't that far from my house but I wasn't used to doing it; Ally usually picked me up and then we'd go together. By the time I got there, the bell had already signalled first period and people were heading inside. I made a mental note to leave my house earlier tomorrow.

I jogged up to the double doors and followed everybody else inside, then turning right to head to art class. The lesson was lonely without Allison talking my ear off and I was glad when it was over and I could enjoy the free period that I had second lesson.

I reached for the door to head outside but before I could grab the handle, someone gripped my wrist to stop me. I rapidly turned my head towards the culprit. Stiles released my wrist now that he had my attention and I didn't know what to do. Anger always pooled in my heart whenever he walked into the room, let alone trying to speak to me!

"What do you want?" I folded my arms coldly and for a few seconds, he looked surprised at my bluntness. But of course, he quickly regained himself and his usual smirk that ghosted his lips returned.

"You're a little fire-cracker aren't you?" raised his hands in mock surrender and the temptation to punch him returned. I started to walk past him but he stepped backwards and moved his arm out to block my path.

"Alright, alright I'm sorry", he grinned, "Kira told me I should apologise to you, so here I am", he gestured his hand down his body as if I hadn't realised that he was stood right there in front of me.

"Great start", I retorted sarcastically and his grin grew wider.

"Why exactly am I apologising?" he frowned slightly but his smirk still stayed put.

"For pretending not to remember me yesterday", I rolled my eyes and he laughed slightly.

"How do you know I was pretending? Maybe I don't recognise you", he shrugged and I scoffed loudly.

"We both know full well you remember me. How could you forget the girl you publicly humiliated?" I muttered exasperatedly.

"Is that why you hate me?" his ghost smirk turned into a full one and his mouth parted slightly, "You're mad because I didn't want to date you?"

"No!" I shouted a little louder than I had meant to. I checked to make sure nobody had noticed before I continued, "I'm mad because you rejected me in public"

"You asked me in public", he folded his arms, mocking the way mine were folded and I growled in frustration.

"You could have been nice about it; I poured my heart out to you! You couldn't have just been like, 'Sorry but I don't feel the same way'?" I suggested.

"I was a freshman", he laughed. He made it sound as if I was being stupid but I wasn't. Not in my eyes – he had really hurt me and he still didn't even care.

"Whatever", I rolled my eyes and continued to walk but he pushed his arm out and stopped me again.

"Alright, I'm sorry", he sounded genuine this time. "Kira likes you and really wants to get to know you, so that means we'd have to hang out sometimes too. We need to at least try to get along… for her sake", he raised his eyebrows, waiting for my reaction.

"Fine", I agreed. I was doing this for Kira, not him. She was really nice and wanted to be friends with someone like _me_.

He nodded once, smiling as he stepped away from me and disappeared down the corridor. My head was buzzing throughout the next couple of lessons; I didn't know how to react to Stiles' apology, or the fact that we would have to 'hang out' sometimes.

The table was empty apart from Malia when I went in for lunch. She didn't seem to really like me much so I hung back and waited for Kira to get there. Eventually she sat down and I waited a few more seconds before I joined her, just so it didn't look like I was waiting for her.

"Hey Lydia!" she beamed as I dragged an empty chair out. Everyone's eyes turned to me and I blushed red.

"Hey guys", I murmured and each one greeted me in a different way. Malia nodded slightly, Scott beamed and Stiles gave me a 'salute wave'. They all chatted amongst themselves, every once in a while trying to include me but I felt weird being there. I felt out of place but not as bad as yesterday, which proved that I needed to wait it out and give it a bit longer to feel normal. That would happen sooner or later, right?

It was exhausting trying to keep up with all of their conversations and I eventually got so overwhelmed that I made some excuse about homework to leave. I just needed to get to know them all better and I would be fine.

The rest of the day rolled by pretty quickly and before I knew it, it was time to go home. As I headed out, I noticed Stiles' hand resting behind some blonde girls head as she leant against his Jeep, obviously flirting with him. He looked towards me, noticing my staring and waved over to me. I blushed and turned away from him. He was teasing me again!

"Lydia", Malia was stood right next to me, making me jump half out of my skin.

"Jesus!" I placed my hand over my heart to try and help it to beat slower.

"Sorry", she smiled slightly and I waved it off. "Kira invited everyone to a movie night at her house on Friday night. You in?" she cocked one eyebrow in question.

"Do you want me there?" I asked before I could stop myself. To me, Malia had seemed territorial over her group and I didn't, in a million years, see her inviting me to a movie night.

"Of course. You're a friend now, right?" she beamed and pride filled me at her choice of word. I was her 'friend'.

"Yeah I'd love to come", I tried not to sound too enthusiastic and it wasn't hard considering the amount of nerves racing around inside me right now.

"Great", she started to back away from me, "See you at school tomorrow" she pointed finger guns at me and then turned around and headed for her car. She was like the only person I had ever met that makes finger guns look cool, seriously.

I curiously glanced back in Stiles' direction. He was no longer with the blonde. In fact, he was in his Jeep and starting to back out of his parking space. I shook the curiosity of the blonde girl's identity out of my head and started my journey home.


	3. Chapter 3

_Part 1 of the movie night :D Enjoy!_

The rest of the week went okay. I hung out with Kira most of the days, getting to know her better and better and she was getting to know me too. Each lunch time, Stiles would find a new way to grate on me and he loved it. He'd make jokes and digs about me asking him out in freshman year and every time I found him hopelessly flirting with some bimbo, he would give me a specific smirk and I had no idea what it meant.

I told Allison everything over skype after each day at school and she would give me updates on her forming relationship with her neighbour, Isaac. It was Friday after school. Kira had told everybody to meet at her place at 5:00pm and I was talking to Allison before I went.

"So he invited me to this dance tonight", Allison explained as she shoved a forkful of pasta into her mouth, "He is really romantic by the looks of it"

"He sounds really sweet, I wish I had someone like him in Beacon Hills", I laughed and Allison looked proud.

"When do you have to get to this movie thing?" She set her fork down and crossed her legs on her carpet.

"Uh-", I craned my neck to get a better look at the clock by my bed, "Now! Oh crap!" I jumped to my feet and grabbed my prettiest dress from my wardrobe, throwing it over my head and raking a brush through my tangled hair. I then re-applied my disappearing make-up and pulled some pumps onto my feet.

"I gotta leave, I'll talk to you tomorrow", I told her quickly, "I wanna hear about how things went with Isaac"

"Same goes for you", she called to me as I closed the lid of my laptop. She of course meant about how things went for me at the movie night, not with Isaac.

I ran downstairs and grabbed my mother's car keys from their hook. She was out with some friends and she had called a taxi so that she could drink so the car was mine tonight. I eventually, after passing it a few times, found Kira's house and nervously rang the doorbell. She answered with a huge grin and invited me in, pointing me to her living room.

"I'll be there in a minute, I'm sorting out snacks", she called from the doorway to the kitchen and then, in her usual hyper manor, hopped through the door.

I stepped into the room I was directed to. Malia was sat alone on a three person sofa, giving me a friendly smile as I walked in. I quickly noticed that Stiles and Scott weren't in there.

"They're late", Malia told me as if she had read my mind. I nodded and sat next to her, preparing myself for the teasing and the many digs that were to come my way when Stiles arrived.

"So how long have you been here for?" I tried to lighten the awkwardness by making conversation. Malia was staring down at her phone and made no move to answer my question.

"Stiles has taken a liking to you", she finally looked up at me, "We all have", she added before I could ask what she meant.

"It doesn't seem like he has", I cleared my throat and sat back against the cushions. She had no idea what she was talking about, he hated me. And I hated him.

"He just doesn't like the fact that you don't worship him like the other girls do. He'll get used to it. He'll just make you his project", she said the last part of the sentence in a way that almost sounded like a warning.

"What do you mean his _project_?" I squinted at her in confusion. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

"He'll try and get you to fall for him like the others girls all do, it's what he does", she shrugged as if it were no big deal, "Just letting you know so that you expect it", she reverted her eyes back to her phone screen, leaving me confused.

It was silent for a few minutes before I could think of something else to say. "Was he like this with you when you first became a part of the group?" I asked, remembering that she was the newest member before me.

"Nope", she replied quickly.

"Oh", I was confused again, "Why not?"

She shoved her phone into her pocket and then smiled at me as if I were innocent. It took me a while but I eventually understood why.

"Oh", I repeated, this time with a hint of embarrassment. "So are you two like… dating?" I turned my head on the side slightly, still trying to work out what was going on.

"No. It was just a one-time thing and we both decided to stay friends", she lay her head back against the chair and looked into my eyes. "Are you a virgin?" she questioned casually and I practically choked on my own saliva.

"Isn't it obvious?" Stiles' voice butted in. He walked into the room, smirking. Scott was not far behind him. If Malia was right, he wasn't doing a very good job at winning me over. I was about to retort with a witty comeback but Kira rushed into the room with cans of Pepsi and a tray lined with bowls of goodies, distracting me.

She tried to clear space on the coffee table, at the same time greeted the boys – Stiles with a wave and Scott with a kiss. I quickly took in the seating arrangements and started to panic slightly. There was room for one more person on the three person sofa that I sat on with Malia and then there was another two-seater. Scott and Kira would obviously be sat in the two –seater and Malia was on the left side of the three-seater, leaving only the middle and right space for me and Stiles… I would have to sit next to him wherever I chose to sit.

I stood up to 'help Kira' set the snacks down and get the movie ready and then hung back until everyone else was sitting down, hoping that maybe Kira would sit next to me and Scott would be with Stiles. But of course, they sat together. The worst part was that they sat on the three-seater with Malia, leaving me and Stiles on the other one alone.

I tried to act like my insides weren't screaming as I slumped down into the chair and squeezed up to the arm as much as I possibly could. Stiles just sat down casually, taking up a good half of the chair with his lacrosse-built muscles. This meant that quarter way through the movie, when my arms were getting tired of gripping onto the chair and I finally let myself sink to where I should have been, his arm was pressed against mine. I didn't want to touch him and I still wanted to slap him so it was extremely uncomfortable to be pressed against him, especially after what Malia had told me.


	4. Chapter 4

I couldn't focus on the movie. All that was coming into my head was what Malia had told me about Stiles making me his project. At least now I knew so that when/if he tried, I would be able to make sure it never happened. I never wanted to fall for him again and let him cause me the same pain he did the first time.

I flinched as a hot breath ran down my neck and Stiles leaned in close to my ear. "Do you get this movie?" he whispered, making every single one of my hairs stand on their end. Now that I knew what he was trying to do, it made it worse.

I nodded without looking at him, hoping that he would get the point and move away. He lingered for a few seconds before he finally sat normally again. The fact that I hated him didn't change that he was incredibly good looking, had a voice that was soft yet sexy and he smelled amazing – he knew all of these things and I figured that he was using them to his advantage right now. I couldn't let him.

When the movie finished it was only 7:30pm but I couldn't wait to get out of there. As everyone stood up to make an exit, Stiles pitched in with a 'great' idea.

"How about we all go down to the beach?" he suggested.

"The lifeguards don't let people down there this late" I butted in, trying to dissolve the idea before it gained anymore followers.

"They'll have gone home by now, trust me. I used to go down there all the time", he told everyone but stared straight at me while he said it.

"Sounds like a good idea, I'm in", Kira beamed excitedly and that made up Scott's mind too.

"Yeah, I'll go", Malia agreed causally. And then all eyes were on me to make up my mind.

"I should probably just get home", I excused myself, causing me to be met with sighs and noises of protest.

"Come on, Lydia", Stiles smirked, "Unless you're scared of getting caught by a _lifeguard_ ", he said the last word with mock fear and fresh anger pulsed through my veins.

"Ok fine, I'll come". He was teasing me and I should have stuck with my answer to go home, but something about him really wound me up and I had an, involuntary, internal challenge to prove him wrong constantly.

My stupid internal challenge meant that I eventually ended up being dropped at home to get into a bathing suit and then being picked up again, taken to the beach and stood on the sand by 8:00pm with my shoes is my hands. Scott, Kira and Stiles were splashing around in the sea and Malia was alone, examining rock pools. I was stood watching them all like an idiot, not knowing what to do.

"Are you coming in or what?" Stiles shouted over to me, pulling his fingers through his wet hair to smooth it away from his face.

"I'll pass", I called back, watching the pitch black water with a fearful expression.

"Are you scared?" he jogged out of the water and stopped in front of me.

"S-scared of what?" I stuttered, not wanting him to know that I was afraid of the sea at night. In the day time I was fine but at night there was something about it. I hated how dark it got and how you had no idea what was underneath you.

"You're scared of the sea", he laughed out loud and my cheeks blushed red in embarrassment.

"I am not!" I protested, trying to sound as convincing as I could. There was a short pause before Stiles spoke again.

"Prove it", he gestured behind him. He wanted me to go in.

"Fine", I huffed in annoyance, storming towards the water. My heart was racing as I inched closer but I stopped just before my toes touched the wet.

I realised that I was doing exactly what Stiles wanted me to do. It was scary that he could just make you do something without you even realising he made you do it. I was about to turn around and refuse to get into the water when I felt a large pair of arms wrap around my waist, lifting me off the ground. I squealed as Stiles ran forwards, dragging me into the waves with him. He released me but continued to have a slight hold on my arms, steadying me in the sways.

"See", he grinned, "Not that bad is it?" he looked into my eyes and my heart started to melt slightly at the sight of his shimmering brown eyes.

Crap. I pulled away from his grip; his plan had almost worked. I had almost fallen for him again… _almost._ I mentally cursed myself at the time it had taken him to almost succeed with his plan. It hadn't even been a day! Pathetic me!

I didn't look back at him as I stepped out of the sea and wrapped a towel around me from the pile Kira had created for us. In fact, I ignored him all together until everyone was ready to leave. I avoided eye contact and didn't answer whenever he said something to me, pretending not to hear him. It was probably quite obvious that I couldn't possibly have not heard him every single time he spoke but I didn't care and I continued to do it.

It was midnight when Kira drove me home and I was wrecked. Not that it mattered considering that it was Saturday tomorrow.

"I'll text you tomorrow", she grinned as I waved at her from my doorway and then she drove away. I was so tired that as soon as my head hit the pillow, I couldn't move. I fell asleep still in my bathing suit.

The sunlight was streaming through my window when I awoke the next morning. I could barely breathe from how tight my costume was around me but it made it easier to wake up. I checked the clock next to my bed. '11:45am'.

I needed to call Allison but I was going to have to get out of the swimming suit first, it was like torture. I washed my hair to get rid of the smell of salt water but I threw it up into a bun instead of drying it; I really couldn't be bothered. I didn't even put any make-up on, just slumped down onto the floor and pulled up my skype contacts, clicking on Ally's name.

"Hey!" she answered after just three rings.

"Hey", I replied, my throat hoarse and sore. My nose was also running slightly and Allison's excited face turned slightly worried.

"Are you feeling okay, you're looking really pale?" she squinted her eyes to try and see me clearer.

"Must be getting a cold", I yawned. I sure felt like I was getting a cold! "Anyway, how'd it go with Isaac?" I changed the subject and she beamed at the sound of his name.

"Really great, Lyd's!" she bit her lip and blushed slightly, "He's really sweet and we're seeing a movie this afternoon"

"That's great!" I replied, genuinely happy for her. She had managed to find a really good guy and I was indeed thrilled.

"So how'd last night go for you?" she giggled at my eye roll and waited patiently for the story to start.

I told her about pretty much everything. I told her what Malia had said, how nice Kira was being and especially what Stiles was doing. She listened intently, nodding whenever I paused to let me know she was still following.

"How do you know he doesn't just like you?" she shrugged, "Maybe Malia was jealous and lying? You said yourself that she seemed territorial". I thought for a moment.

"No I have heard about him doing stuff like this before. I also see it happening on a daily basis", I pulled a disgusted face and then we both broke out in laughter.

"Yeah you're probably right", she nodded.

We continued to talk about both of our lives since she had moved away until her phone eventually beeped and she admitted that it was from Isaac.

"He's invited me to meet his parents before the movie", she bit her lip nervously but I could see the excitement behind her eyes.

"What are you waiting for? Go!" I giggled and she nodded at me, a grin appearing on her lips. We both then hung up the call and I slumped onto my bed, opening a book and sinking into it.


	5. Chapter 5

Stiles avoided me for a week. He avoided _me_! Not that I minded considering that it meant I wasn't being constantly wound up all the time but I still didn't understand why he was avoiding me. It wasn't complete avoiding. He still sat at the same lunch table and we hung around in the same group but he didn't speak to me. It was sort of refreshing to not have him teasing me constantly but it also felt weird.

I sat in the library with Malia, studying for the test coming up soon. Her eyes rolled over the pages, taking in each sentence and I watched her intently. It was fascinating to see the wheels spinning behind her eyes; she didn't seem like the type of person who took their education seriously. She seemed more of a rebel, bad-girl type.

"So how'd it go?" Malia flicked her eyes up at me with an amused smile. I frowned at her, confused to what she meant.

"How did what go?" I asked slowly, still furrowing my eyebrows.

"Sleeping with Stiles", she shrugged, trying to hold back a huge grin. I chocked on the air at the sudden accusation. Where was this coming from?

"What the hell are you talking about?" I gaped wide-eyed at her and my mouth hung slightly open in shock.

"He hasn't spoken to you since the beach so I figured you must have put out", she closed her book and placed in neatly on the table in front of her.

"Well I haven't!" I scoffed and she looked confused for a few seconds, her nose scrunching in thought.

"He must be plotting", she eventually decided, "It doesn't usually take this long for the girls to get with him so he's probably run out of ideas"

"It was one day", I shook my head in disbelief "Girls can't be so easy that they fall for him after one day"

"He's been trying for more than a day, Lydia", Malia rolled her eyes and smiled at me as if I were innocent and oblivious.

"What do you mean?" I continued to remain confused, not being able to recall a single moment from before Friday night where it seemed he was trying to win me over.

"He's been trying since you stormed out at the lunch table and he noticed you weren't obsessed like every other bimbo at this school", she told me bluntly, "You just didn't notice until I told you"

The more I thought about it the more it seemed to add up. The constant teasing, although infuriating, had me thinking about him all the time without realising it and that was probably his plan. I all of a sudden felt violated.

I managed to get an hour of studying in before the bell signalled the end of mine and Malia's free period and we both had to head over to English. She gave me a short wave as she headed into her English room and I returned it, then heading into mine.

I took my usual seat next to Kira and we chatted until the teacher walked in and started the lesson. I now felt so comfortable with Kira that I couldn't even remember what it was like when she was just another popular girl to me. Being friends with someone popular isn't like how the movies make it out to be. It doesn't make you popular too - barely anybody knew my name still but I liked it that way.

After a super boring lesson, the bell was like an adrenaline shot bringing life back into my body. Kira skipped to the door without me and I soon realised that Scott was stood outside. That was just about the only infuriating thing about her. When Scott was there, she almost completely forgot about me. When she did that it made me miss Allison even more; she would never have done that to me.

I stalked slowly towards the lunch hall, feeling slightly irritated and not in any hurry to get there. I even pretended to put some things in my locker to waste more time but soon wished I hadn't when I turned around and found Stiles stood behind me.

"What are you doing here?" I sighed.

"You weren't at the lunch table and Kira was getting worried. She said you were just in her English and should have been there by now", he explained, "Are you sitting with them?"

"No I was going to sit on my own outside", I replied sarcastically, placing my hands on my hips.

"Ok I'll join you", he smirked "I know a place we can chill". I knew full well that he was aware of my sarcasm. I just let myself fall into one of his tricks!

Before I could protest, Stiles gripped my wrist and started to lead me outside. Almost every girl we passed either glared at me or stared at him with longing, completely oblivious to me. Why did everyone love him so much? I guess I can't talk; I used to be one of them.

I soon found myself at the lacrosse field but when I thought he was going to stop, he kept walking until we were in a small gap underneath the seats. He shot me a lopsided grin as he dropped to the floor and leant against the back of the benches. I found myself doing the same thing automatically but being careful to keep my distance from him. Not that it mattered since it didn't take him long to close the gap slyly. I didn't even notice that he was moving towards me until my knees were brushing against his. I needed to get out of there, quickly.

"I come here a lot when I want to be alone", he murmured before I could make an excuse to leave, "And that used to be a lot", he continued, smiling softly at me and gazing into my eyes as if I were the reason he didn't anymore.

I swallowed hard, having to remind myself that this was just a part of his trick. Man, he was good at this.

"I have to do that sometimes", I laughed awkwardly, trying to change the subject slightly, "I just go and sit in my car but this is… nice", I nodded, "I mean it seems like a nice, relaxing place to sit", I added quickly, realising that what I had said could be interpreted as me thinking it was nice because of him being there. I heard him sigh before he pushed himself up off the ground.

"We should probably get to the lunch table before Kira has a meltdown", he said shortly, glancing over his shoulder at me before walking off.

I stood up and followed him, purposely not catching up with him. How long was he going to keep this up before he got bored with me? Honestly, it was getting hard to remember he was playing a game when he acted so sweet, romantic and innocent. If only he were actually like that.


	6. Chapter 6

I woke up on Wednesday morning with a splitting headache. It sent shooting pains into my brain to open my eyes but I forced them open anyway. I had been expecting this since feeling under the weather on the day after the beach. That's how my illnesses worked: I would get a symptom, nothing for about a week and then an illness way worse than normal. A simple cold made me feel like I was internally dying (dramatic much). Thank god I didn't get sick much.

I needed painkillers! I blindly reached my arm over to my bed-side table and felt around for my ibuprofen bottle, soon remembering I had moved it over to my desk while I was doing homework a little while ago.

"Just perfect", I muttered to myself as I wiped my hand over my face in frustration. I slowly sat forward until I was upright and inched my legs over the side of the bed. Resting my hands behind me, I gently pushed myself to my feet but was quickly made to sit back down as the contents of my stomach spilled onto the wooden floor, making my head pound worse.

I lay on my side, giving up on the painkillers and hoping that sleep would take the growing throbbing in my head away. Eventually I heard my mom open the door, coming to wake me up for school like she always did if I wasn't already downstairs by now. She gasped slightly at the mess next to my bed and I listened to her footsteps tiptoeing around the other side and then felt the back of her hand press against my forehead.

"Well you're not going to school today", she mumbled quietly to herself. I hummed in response. "Oh, Lydia you're awake", she whispered soothingly, brushing my hair out of my face.

I opened my eyes and looked at her, humming again and then reaching my hand towards the bottle of painkillers on my desk, making a 'grabby motion'. She grinned and shook her head as she opened the bottle and handed me the pills. I swallowed them without water, which I hated doing normally but right now I wanted them inside me as quickly as possible.

My mom cleaned up the vomit for me, thanks mom, and then a few minutes later she left for work and I was alone again. I lay completely still, feeling the drugs starting to take effect as my headache subsided slightly. It didn't take long after that for me to pass out.

"Do we just leave?" I heard a muffled voice ask to someone else in the room. I recognised the voice to come from Kira; she must have come to visit me. I flicked my eyes open and a beam formed on her mouth.

"Hey Lyd, how're you feeling?" she was being obviously careful to keep her distance from me but it was still sweet that she had come at all. However, to be honest I was _not_ feeling up for visitors right now but I didn't want to be rude.

"I've been better", I croaked out. My throat was raw and dry but when I looked over to my water glass, it was empty.

"Do you want some water?" Kira picked up the glass, obviously reading the disappointment in my eyes from the lack of liquid that sat in the cup.

I followed her with my eyes as she headed out of the room, an appreciative smile on my face until I got to the door and saw Stiles stood with his hands in his pockets and it fell. He waited until she was gone and then glided across the room and sat on the edge of my bed, next to me.

"You okay?" he had a small, lopsided smile and his eyes showed a hint of concern as he placed his hand onto my arm. If I didn't feel so weak and horrible, I would have pushed him onto the floor by now. I was ill and he was still playing his stupid game with me.

"Just stop", I practically begged. He looked deep into my eyes for a few seconds and his mouth opened but no words came out. He removed his hand but stayed sat on the edge of the bed, looking into my eyes. Just by doing that, I was reminded of why I fell in love with him in the first place and I had to look away. I hated him so much. I hated that he could make any girl he wanted weak within seconds. I hated that he could make _me_ weak.

Kira skipped back in, filled glass in her hand and Stiles stood up. She handed me the water and I sipped slowly at the rim, collecting small droplets of refreshment but being careful not to have too much; I didn't want to throw up again.

I listened to Kira's stories from my missed day at school but my eyes kept drifting to Stiles, who sat on my desk chair. He was flipping through all of my old art books and, feeling self-conscious, my eyes were watching intently for any reactions - good or bad. I shouldn't have felt self-conscious; who cares what Stiles Stilinski thinks? There was just some nagging feeling at the back of my chest that wanted him to think they were good. It was small, but it was there.

His expression didn't change when he closed the book and slid it back onto my book-shelf, nor did it change when he opened the next one. It was almost as if he knew I was watching and so was keeping a neutral expression on purpose.

Prada, my dog, barked downstairs as the front door closed and I knew my mom was home. Everyone in my room was silent as we listened to her shutting up Prada and then her footsteps creaking the staircase. A few seconds later my door opened and she raised her eyebrows in surprise at the guests.

"Hello", she smiled at them and then furrowed her eyebrows at me in confusion. "Are you feeling better yet, sweat-heart?" I could tell she was asking because of the people, not from genuine curiosity.

"A little bit", I lied but the sound of my voice gave away that it wasn't true. She sighed slightly in disbelief and then turned to Stiles and Kira.

"Lydia needs a bit more rest to recover fully, so I hope you don't mind me asking you leave", she sounded friendly but there was a hint of impatience in her voice that made my cheeks flush red in embarrassment.

"Not at all", Kira quickly replied, "Bye Lydia", she called to me and then hurried out of the door. She actually seemed to be slightly afraid of my mom.

"Cya", Stiles licked his bottom lip and for once, he wasn't smirking. I was genuinely shocked as he closed my bedroom door behind him which was probably his goal. He probably wanted me to think that he was a sweet, concern filled boy that actually cared about me but I knew his real plan. Sorry Stiles but your act isn't going to work on me.

 _I hope you're enjoying the story so far :) Please leave reviews, it's really appreciated as a writer! Thank you x_


	7. Chapter 7

Nobody came to visit me after my mom had chucked them out. That meant that I had to be alone for the rest of the week, not that I minded too much. I had already decided I wasn't feeling up for visitors but by the time I was feeling well enough for school, it was kind of exciting to see people my age again. Don't get me wrong, I love my mom but I was looking forward to seeing my friends, well… most of them. I was _not_ looking forward to seeing Stiles and having to deal with his stupid game.

I only half listened to my mother's concern-ridden comments as I sipped on a mug of coffee and then swallowed an Ibuprofen tablet. Five minutes later I had her convinced that I didn't need a ride to school and I was on my way down the path.

My breath was gone by the time I made it to the school doors and I wished I had taken the lift from her. I literally had to stand and wait for a few minutes to catch some air and fill my lungs again.

I couldn't focus in a single lesson and I was thankful for the fifteen minute break when it finally arrived. Instead of doing what I normally did and find Kira, I headed towards the lacrosse field. Normally I would have gone to Ally and I's tree stump or to my car when I wanted to be alone but something was drawing me to underneath the stairs; it was so much calmer and nicer there.

I stopped dead in my tracks when I noticed a dark figure slumped against the back of the benches. Of course, what had I been expecting? It was _his_ quiet area. I spun around and started to walk away.

"Lydia?" he called after me and my heart juddered as I stopped moving. I didn't want to look at him but I did anyway. He was now stood up and leaning against the seats with the same lopsided smile he had when he visited me.

"Hi", I bit my lip as he came towards me, sensing a new trick coming. He seemed way more confident than normal.

"I didn't know you were back at school today", he told me and before I could say anything, he pulled me into a tight hug. I was speechless; it was so unexpected.

His mouth formed a grin and his eyes darted in between mine a couple of times and then down at my lips, hovering there for a few seconds too long. I stepped backwards and looked down to the floor. Again, he had almost made me forget about everything. Not just about his game, _everything!_ The bell signalled from afar and it was time to get to the next lesson.

"I have to…" I couldn't make a proper sentence form while he was staring at me like he was and he knew it. He knew exactly what he was doing to me and he thrived on it. That was the whole point, wasn't it?

"Get to class?" he finished for me and I nodded quickly and tripped on my own feet as I fidgeted on the spot. I wanted to scream in frustration right then but I kept it bottled, attempting to keep a straight face.

He nodded and it suddenly felt like I had permission to leave. Of course I could have left at any time and he wouldn't have stopped me but I felt as if I couldn't for some reason (another effect he has on girls).

I hurriedly walked to my class and got there just in time before the teacher had started the lesson, not that I could focus on it today anyway - and that wasn't just from being ill anymore.

"Come on, Lydia", I scolded myself, "He's just a boy, and one you hate", I chanted it over and over in my brain, praying that it would stick in there, "You can't let him get to you again"

"Can't let who get to you again?" Kira beamed as she slid into her seat next to me. How much of that had I said out loud?

"Uh, just my favourite character in my… book", I gestured towards my bag and the book inside it, hoping she would believe it and drop the topic.

"Ah", she hummed in a bored tone and then turned to listen to the lecture she was getting for being late to class.

We all sat in the library at lunch to study for a practice math exam we would all be getting soon. I purposely sat with Malia, wanting more information about why Stiles was doing this and how long it would take for him to give up. I didn't know how much longer I could last and I didn't want to give in to him and then have my heart broken again.

"Hey, Malia can I ask you something?" I glanced up from a book in my hands as if the thought had just occurred to me when in fact I had been waiting a whole ten minutes to ask.

"Shoot", she sat back in her chair, waiting for my question.

"I was just wondering, like roughly, how long will it take for Stiles to give up on me?" I started off playing it cool but by the end of the sentence my eyes were wide in curiosity and impatience.

"Hard, isn't it?" she laughed, "You've already lasted longer than me", she spoke as if it were something to be proud of.

"It's just, I don't want to fall for his tricks and get broken again", I shook my head in irritation, "No matter how many times I remind myself, I forget that I'm just a project to him. For a while I feel like he actually cares", I laughed humourlessly and Malia's eyes softened more than I had ever seen before.

"He does that to everybody", she smiled sadly, "But there must be something different about you… something keeping him _entertained_ ", she picked out the last word carefully, thinking for a seconds before using it.

"What do you mean?" I frowned.

"Usually by now he's either got the girl or given up but with you, he's still trying", she stood up out of her seat, "I don't know why. Maybe it's about the reaction you give him but something's keeping him going", she shrugged and then headed towards the book shelf to find another book.

If something about my reaction was helping Stiles to keep messing with me, I would just have to stop reacting.


	8. Chapter 8

After the library, the conversation with Malia was still spinning around in my brain. When I got home, the first thing I did was open skype and call Allison. She answered straight away, a pen in her hand and some homework visible on the desk in front of her. I chatted about her and Isaac for a few minutes first, not wanting her to think I only ever spoke to her to talk about myself but it wasn't long before I moved the topic onto what Malia and I had talked about.

"You sure that's going to work?" Allison laughed, looking up from her homework as I told her that I was planning on not giving Stiles the satisfaction of getting a reaction out of me.

"It has to", I sat forward, preparing myself to explain the logic behind it "Malia said that it must be something about the way I react that gives him pleasure in continuing to do it, right?"

"Yeah", she nodded, showing that she was following so far and then her face lit up with realisation.

"Exactly!" I giggled as she made a 'o' with her mouth and then grinned, "If I don't do anything then he will get bored a move on, won't he?"

"But do you want him to?" she asked. At first I thought she might have been joking but her expression was nothing but serious. She had even put her pen down to show how serious she was being.

"What do you mean?" I laughed slightly, "Of course I do!" I avoided eye contact, getting overly defensive about it but not wanting to show her.

"Okay", she shrugged and I furrowed my eyebrows at her. That girl could be so confusing when she wanted to be.

"Is that it?" I said in disbelief, "No argument, just okay?" I was genuinely shocked.

"I know how you feel about him", she told me with a straight face.

"Does that mean you think I like him or you think I don't?" I questioned slowly. What did she even mean?

"You tell me", she grinned and I honestly didn't know which one she meant but I didn't want to ask anymore, worried that the answer was that she thought I liked him.

"I gotta go. Isaac just text me saying he's outside", she beamed as she looked down at her phone and then stood up and pulled a leather jacket onto her slim figure. I had always been kind of jealous of how slim she was and how good she looked in everything.

"Good luck", I waved as she blew me a kiss and then ended our skype call. Now I would just have to get through the week without reacting to Stiles, how hard could that be?

At first, not reacting was kind of easy. I would change the subject when he would come out with a flirty remark or even just full on ignore it in the hopes he would get the point and leave me alone. It got harder when he dropped the flirting and started from square one, teasing me and making digs about my old crush on him again. He was just trying to get any reaction he possibly could out of me but it still made me want to punch him repeatedly and violently in his perfect, beautiful face.

I was getting closer and closer to giving in and letting him have the reaction he wanted, so much so that I took the path of avoiding him altogether on Friday. That also meant avoiding Kira, Malia and Scott too – all because of stupid Stiles Stilinski. Every time I would see him, I'd turn the other way. In class when I could feel his gaze resting on me, I'd force myself not to turn my head from the front of the room and at lunch time, I'd made the plan of sitting in my car.

I had planned the route carefully to be sure not to pass by his classroom or the lunch hall, in case he was already in there and spotted me. I merged myself into the crowd of people exiting the room for lunch to make myself less visible, but as I stepped through the door a hand grabbed onto my wrist and pulled me aside.

I was turned forcefully to face someone... Stiles. Our eyes were inches apart and he looked mad. He didn't say a word as he dragged me into the empty part of the hallway and only stopped when I yanked my arm away.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I demanded and he scoffed.

"What am _I_ doing?" he raised his voice as he said 'I' but calmed it slightly again after. "Why are you ignoring everyone?" he raised his arms exasperatedly in question.

"I'm not ignoring everyone, I'm ignoring _you_!" I blurted out and he looked taken aback for a millisecond but immediately regained himself.

"Why?" he softened his tone but there was still a hint of force in there, making me feel as if I had to answer the question.

I felt tears prick my eyes as every single thought of why I could possibly ignore him pooled into my brain. There were a lot, too many to choose from. "I hate you!" I eventually decided that was enough to express myself.

He took a step towards me and I automatically stepped away, my back hitting the wall. He continued to step forward until he was only a couple of centimetres away from me and my breathing faltered. His thumb found my cheek and gently wiped away a stray tear. I involuntarily closed my eyes at the sensation of his skin on mine.

"You don't hate me", he murmured and my eyes snapped open, being dragged back into reality. He stepped away, creating more space between us.

"You win", I whispered bitterly and it was true. No matter how hard I tried to fight it, no matter how much I hated him, I was still in love with him. I shoved past him and stormed down the hallway towards my car, tears pouring down my cheeks.


	9. Chapter 9

_This chapter has two scenes from Teen Wolf sort of merged together. You'll know what I mean when you get there :P Thank you for reading, please review! Its much appreciated :D_

The weekend went by in a flash. It was because I wasn't looking forward to going back to school and facing Stiles again. I didn't bother seeing Kira or Malia or Scott. I didn't see anyone. I just stayed in my room the whole time, skyping Allison on Saturday but making an excuse not to on Sunday to try and hide my feelings from her. I honestly felt pathetic, she was my best friend and I couldn't even talk to her about this!

On Sunday night, I lay in my bed trying to get some sleep. I tossed and turned for hours but my eyes stayed wide awake. I tried everything I could think of to help me sleep but none of it worked; my heart was racing and anxiety filled me at the thought of going back to school. I managed to fall asleep for maybe an hour before my alarm sounded and I was forced out of my slumber.

My mom was already halfway up the stairs to come and get me when I finally emerged from my bedroom.

"Lydia, why are you taking so long today?" she huffed and then turned and continued her routine of arranging something for her lunch.

I headed straight for the coffee, needing it more than ever today. I guess my mom could tell because for once she didn't make any comments or remarks about my daily dose of caffeine being unhealthy for me.

I walked slowly, purposely being slightly late so that I had an excuse for not finding Kira if she asked _and_ also to avoid Stiles. Everyone was lining up outside my English class when I got there but Kira was nowhere to be seen. Maybe she wasn't here today?

Everyone took their usual seats and automatically pulled out their English books. I doodled absent-mindedly on the corner of a page while the teacher prepared to start. Hearing the door open, I glanced up thinking it might be Kira but it wasn't…

"Everyone, as some of you may have noticed Kira Yukimura is no longer in this English class. Due to some issues, she was swapped with this student here", she turned to said student, "Can you tell us your name?"

"Stiles", he flicked his eyes across the room at everybody, stopping on me for a few seconds and then carrying on surveying. My heartbeat stopped; out of all people had they serious replaced Kira with _him_?

"Okay _Stiles_ , you can take Kira's old seat over there next to Miss Martin", she directed him to where I sat and I practically cried. How could this get any worse?

He sat down without saying a word, thank god, but I could feel his eyes burning into my flesh. I stared straight at the front, determined not to even glance at him.

"Okay guys, we're going to continue with Romeo and Juliet today", the teacher called out, "I'm going to start reading and then I'll be calling people to the front to read aloud". She placed her copy of the script onto a stand. I barely took in any of the passage until one line caught my attention.

"Romeo: Is love a tender thing? It's too rough, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn", she read out. Oh, she didn't have a clue how true those words were. Not a clue.

"Okay", the teacher backed away from the text and looked around the room for someone to read aloud. Everybody shrunk into their seats, not wanting to be picked.

"Since you've only just joined us, Stiles, you can read aloud today", she decided as she stepped away from the stand.

"Uh- maybe… maybe someone else could?" he sounded nervous and I was so shocked by the reaction that I turned to face him without even realizing. He was slumped in his chair, his elbows on the desk.

"As you will soon find out, everyone participates in my class Mr…" she paused as she checked his last name on her register, "Stilinski"

"Ok", Stiles swallowed hard as he headed to the front of the class and stared down at the booklet sitting on the stand. Both of his hands gripped the wood tightly as he strained his eyes. It looked like he was struggling to read it. I noticed his chest rising and falling slowly but deeply, getting quicker and he looked as if he was about to pass out.

"Stiles, are you okay?" I rose up from my desk. I didn't know what I was planning on doing but I stood up anyway. He didn't answer but he looked up at me, making it clear he had heard what I'd said. Everyone else in the room was now aware that something wasn't right and hushed whispers were exchanged.

"Maybe I should take him to the nurse's office?" I suggested to the teacher but I already had a grip on his arm before she nodded in agreement.

I helped guide him out of the classroom and towards where the school nurse was situated but as we passed the boys locker room, he broke away from my grasp and pushed into their instead. I followed him, not knowing what to do as he fell against metal caging and slid onto the floor. I dropped to my knees in front of him, seriously panicking. His breathing was rapid and uneven – he was having a panic attack.

"Just try and think about something else, anything else", I commanded. I was scared out of my mind but I was trying to help stop it. He obviously didn't want to go to the nurse.

"Like what?" Stiles managed to breathe out. He sounded scared, which made it worse for me; people like him don't get scared easily.

"Happy things", I blurted, "Good things", I knew I wasn't being very helpful right now, "Uh- friends, family" I tried to help more by being specific but he was still gasping for air.

"Oh god, okay uh – just try and slow your breathing", I gestured wildly with my hand and I could see him trying his hardest to follow my instruction.

"I can't", he actually looked close to tears as he admitted that, gasping helplessly, "I can't", he repeated.

I shushed him softly, grabbing his cheeks to make him look up from the floor and at my face, "Stiles look at me", I murmured gently and his squinted, pain-filled eyes looked into mine. I shushed him again, trying to calm down his rapid breaths, "Look at me", I repeated as his eyes started to drift back down. His breathing wasn't getting any better and the panic in me was rising. What if I couldn't help him?

"Shhh, Stiles", I whispered softly. I could hear the ragged intakes of air and I didn't know what to do. Full of stress, I threw my lips against his to stop the sounds he was making. I felt him tense up in shock but a few seconds later he loosened up. As selfish as it sounded, the feeling was incredible. I had wanted to kiss him since freshman year, despite hating him.

The kiss probably lasted longer than it needed to but when I pulled away, I could no longer hear him struggling for air. I could no longer hear him whimpering. I slowly opened my eyes again and so did he. I had never seen him with the look that was on his face before as he stared into my eyes. A small, but even, puff of air blew from his mouth and he easily inhaled more air. We stared silently at each other for a while. He was the first to speak.

"How'd you do that?" he darted his eyes in between mine and I didn't know what to say; all I had done was panicked.

"I, uh", I desperately tried to think of something to say, "I read once that… holding your breath could stop a panic attack", I paused for a second before adding more, "So, when I kissed you… you held your breath"

"I did?" he sounded surprised and he didn't stop staring at me the whole time.

"Yeah", I smiled at him, "You did"

He breathed out slightly in appreciation and returned my smile, "Thanks" he nodded softly, "That was really smart"

I laughed and there was a moment of awkward silence. He moved so that he was leaning against the cage behind him and I pushed my legs out from underneath me. "I just… I don't know, I just read it somewhere", I murmured quietly, playfully punching his leg to try and lower how awkward it was, "And if I was really smart, I'd tell you to sign up for a few session with the guidance councillor", I smiled, trying to lighten the mood.

He laughed and then let his head fall backwards in exhaustion. "Can I ask what that was about?" I asked cautiously, not wanting to start anything else, "I mean, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to"

"No, it's okay", he played with his thumb and swallowed hard, "It was about my mom", his voice cracked slightly and I almost thought he was about to cry.

"Your mom?" I whispered softly. I didn't really know much about his family. I knew his dad was the sheriff but that was it, I knew nothing about his mom. I had always assumed his parents had gotten a divorce and that's why she never came to parent's evenings or any events. But he wouldn't have had a panic attack over that, right?

"She died when I was 9 years old", he looked at me for a second and then returned his gaze to the floor. My hearts sunk; I had no idea she was dead. "Romeo and Juliet was her all-time favourite thing… like ever", he laughed slightly as if a funny memory had surfaced. I stayed quiet, not wanting to upset him or interrupt him – I would never get another chance to speak to Stiles like this ever again. This was the deepest conversation we had ever had.

"Every time I read it, I get panic attacks", he played with a tiny stone that sat next to him on the floor, "I know it's stupid", he shook his head.

"It's not!" I interrupted him and his eyes bore into mine. In that moment, I wanted to hug his sad little body tightly and never let him go.

We stared at each other silently for ages until the bell cut in and then he cleared his throat and pushed himself to his feet. I did the same.

"We should get to the next class", he told me in a husky voice and I nodded. Then we parted out separate ways, no more words shared.


	10. Chapter 10

My head was still buzzing from the kiss and I couldn't think straight. Well, I hadn't been able to think straight since the moment I started to hang out with him but this was different. _I_ had _kissed Stiles Stilinski!_

"Lydia?" Kira scolded me as I stared into space. My daydream was flicked away and I realized that everyone in the classroom was gone; it was lunch time. I hadn't even realised that the bell had gone.

"Hey, sorry", was all I could think to say as I shoved my books into my bad and stood up to exit the room with her.

"You okay?" she asked casually but there was a small hint of concern in her tone, "You've been acting sort of weird lately and haven't really hung out with me". I felt terrible – Kira didn't know about any of this and would probably think I was just ignoring her.

"I'm fine, just stressed about classes", I lied, stealing the most obvious excuse ever created, "I'll hang with you guys today if that's okay?" I actually sort of wanted too; I needed to know if the kiss had affected Stiles like it had affected me.

"You don't have to ask for permission, Lydia", she giggled and threaded her arm through mine. We were the first at our table, which was slightly surprising since I had sat in the class for about an extra five minutes.

"I'm gonna grab something from the canteen, you coming?" Kira beamed and I smiled but shook my head.

"I'm not really hungry", I shrugged. In other words, my stomach was twisting into knots thinking about what had happened between me and Stiles and I couldn't possibly eat because of the chance of throwing up.

"Ok" she replied cheerfully and then trotted to the back of the food line, leaving me alone at the table.

A couple of minutes later, Stiles and Scott both shoved their bags onto the table and sat down simultaneously. We seemed to have set seats that we automatically stuck to and Stiles' was opposite mine. I stared down at the table, feeling his eyes watching me but when I finally brought myself to look up at him he was no longer looking at me. He looked down at his water bottle instead.

Malia arrived and Kira came back, launching into a conversation with Scott. Malia soon joined in, bluntly disagreeing with whatever Kira was saying like she always does and there was soon a large debate on their half of the table. Stiles rolled his eyes and gave me a look to say 'oh god, not again' and I covered my mouth to stop a loud laugh from erupting.

"No look, I can prove it!" Kira stood up and started to walk out of the hall. Malia huffed in irritation but followed anyway and Scott sat awkwardly for a few seconds, before smiling apologetically at us and then racing after them.

"What just happened?" Stiles looked as confused as I felt. I shrugged my shoulders at him, about to make some joke about it but he cut me off before I could. "I wanted to talk to you about something", he leant forwards in his chair and rested his elbows on the table.

"What about?" I tried to sound cool about it but my heart was pummelling out of my chest. I wanted it to be about the kiss but at the same time I didn't. What if he was just going to say that he didn't like me and that it shouldn't have happened?

"The _thing_ that happened earlier today", he looked into my eyes and I almost dropped dead. I was pretty certain, but not entirely sure that he was talking about the kiss. I didn't want to bring it up and then have an awkward moment when it turned out to be something completely different. What if he was only talking about the panic attack part?

"What thing?" I furrowed my eyebrows as if I didn't have a clue to what he was talking about and he sighed slightly.

"When we kissed", he tapped his fingers gently on the laminate coating of the table and I almost melted just from the fact that he said 'when we kissed' and not just 'when you kissed me'.

"Oh right yeah, that", I made a 'pfft' sound afterwards and practically slapped myself in the face at how embarrassing I was being.

"Yeah", he gave me a small lopsided smile, "I just wanted to say thanks, you really helped me out", he scratched at the back of his neck and I could tell that he had no idea what to say.

"It was nothing", I motioned my hand to wave it off but he grabbed it in mid-air and slowly pushed it down onto the table, leaving his on top.

"No, it wasn't nothing", he was looking so deeply into my eyes that I swear he could see right into my soul. Holy crap, was _he_ going to kiss _me_?

"You were a really good friend", he rubbed his thumb gently over my knuckles but all I could think about was the word he had just used… ' _friend_ '.

I wanted to cry but I forced a smile and nodded at him. That's all I could manage, I didn't trust myself to speak right now. Of course he would say that, what was I expecting? I had told him that he'd won the game so he didn't need to try anymore.

"I have to go", I muttered quickly, feeling tears sting my eyes. I stood up, careful to look down the whole time so that he wouldn't see the built up moisture forming.

"You're gonna leave me all by myself?" he teased and I forced a fake laugh, still not looking at him. Instead, I pretended to tie the laces on my converse (another super obvious trick)

"Just remembered I have homework", I sniffed hard to stop a tear from breaking loose and put my bag on my back.

"Need any help?" he offered, "It's not like I have anything else to do", I glanced quickly enough to see him but that he wouldn't have the time to register that I was practically crying. He was gesturing around the empty table.

"Sure", I answered before I could stop myself – I had never been good at saying no and he looked so hopeful that I would say yes, it broke my heart. He seemed to have a knack for doing that…

"Okay cool", he stood up and followed me out of the lunch hall and towards the library.

"I'll meet you in there", I croaked, "Just have to go to the bathroom first", I actually just needed some place that I could let my emotions out, without him seeing me.

"Are you okay?" he placed his hand on my shoulder, almost making me look at him but I refrained, still not wanting him to see, "You're being really quiet", he continued and then brushed my hair behind my ear.

"Yeah, just hay-fever acting up again… I need to go and take some medication for it, I'll be there in a minute", I rushed off before he could argue. He had definitely seen my watery eyes when he moved my hair, that's why I made the hay-fever lie. Of course yet another obvious excuse, well done Lydia. That's what happens when under pressure.


	11. Chapter 11

_To Kei-Kugodgy: I am a very inspired writer ;D_

 _To everyone!: Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoy it and please leave me reviews! 3_

I sat on the toilet seat, crying. There was nobody else in there so I full on let out my emotions. I was doing some seriously loud crying! I needed to let it out quickly so that Stiles wouldn't think I had ditched him or something.

After ten minutes of crying, I dried my eyes and waited a few more minutes for the red swelling to go away as much as I could get it too. I walked slowly and hovered outside the library door, really not wanting to go in but I forced myself anyway. Stiles was rubbing his chin as he doodled on a scrap piece of paper. I breathed in deeply and then strutted towards the table and pulled out the chair opposite him.

"Oh, hey", he smiled and slid the paper across the table until it was in front of me. I gasped slightly as my eyes were met with a drawing of a girl sat on a tree stump, laughing. It was super clear that it was supposed to be me and it I _did_ look like me.

"This is really good!" I looked at him while I spoke but then let my eyes fall back onto the slightly crumpled piece of paper.

"It's not", he laughed and then reached over to grab it but I snatched it out of his way, "Alright Lydia, no need to admire yourself!" he teased.

"It's _very_ good", I told him, ignoring the second half of his sentence, "And if you don't think so, then I'll just have to keep it", I grinned and he rolled his eyes playfully.

He sat back in his chair, raising his arms in surrender and I pulled out the first piece of homework I could find. I acted like I knew exactly what I was looking for, since I had told him that it was the reason I was here.

"How do you expect me to help if you're the opposite side of the table?" Stiles laughed as he stood up and stepped over to the chair on my left, "What are you struggling with?"

I tried to remain calm, opening my maths book and turning to the glued-in question sheet. I actually was struggling with this topic – it was the Riemann Hypothesis.

"Oh, this is really easy", Stiles edged his seat closer to mine so that our arms were touching and my heart fluttered. I had to remind myself that he wasn't interested in me and that I was only a friend to him, if that.

"Glad you think so cause I have no clue", I sighed and he shot me his cute lop-sided smile, making my heart swell further. A few days ago, I had hated his guts. Now I was even more in love with him than freshman year and he had broken my heart again, so why didn't I hate him again?

"Okay, so the Riemann hypothesis is a conjecture that the Riemann zeta function has its zeros only at the negative even integers", he explained, looking into my eyes ever so often as he spoke. None of it went in to my head at all but I nodded anyway, pretending.

He carried on talking and it continued to go over my head but I didn't say anything. Every time he leant in close to write something on the other page, my heartbeat rapidly sped up and my breath got caught in my throat.

"Are you getting this?" he stopped writing and turned his head to look at me. Our faces were only inches apart and it was taking everything in me not to kiss him. I nodded, even though I had literally no idea what he had just been saying and no idea how to do it. That's what google is for.

"Okay cool, can you answer this question now?" he pointed to the third question on the paper; he had already answered the first two for me. _Crap_! I scanned the sheet quickly to see how easy it was to just copy what he had done but I couldn't. There was no way.

I opened my mouth, about to own up but then the bell rang for the end of lunch. Saved by the bell! Stiles moved so that he was no longer leaning in front of me and I closed my math book. We stood up and put our bags onto our backs, then headed out of the door.

"We have English now, right?" he asked me and I nodded in confirmation. We walked together down the hallway to get to our lesson. Stiles opened his mouth as if he were about to say something but was interrupted when a blonde girl put her hand onto his shoulder.

"Hey Stiles", she smirked and squinted her eyes sexily at him. A huge pang of jealously ran through me at the way her hand curled around his shoulder and the way he smiled back at her.

"Hey Erica", he had his hand placed on her hip, almost as if it were normal for them to be that touchy. I suddenly realized it was the same blonde that he had been speaking to next to his Jeep on the second day of senior year.

"There's a party at mine this weekend", she stared deeply into his eyes, "You should come," she grinned. It was clear that she was super into him, could you blame her? It still made me sort of hate her though.

"Maybe", he shrugged. His expression was almost bored but it didn't faze her, it seemed to only make her try harder. She started to rub his shoulder slightly before removing her hand and strutting past, completely ignoring me. I watched her turn a corner and disappear out of sight.

"You coming?" Stiles called out. I snapped my neck to look back at him. He was walking backwards, beckoning me with his hands and giving me his lop-sided smile. I nodded and caught up with him, wanting to ask him about that girl but being too afraid.

We filed into the classroom and took our seats, taking out our books and getting ready to start the lesson. Maybe she was his girlfriend? No… Malia would have mentioned if he had one when telling me about his 'projects'. Also, if he did the whole project thing, that would class as cheating wouldn't it?

"Miss Martin, are you paying attention?" the teacher shouted and I jumped in my seat. Everyone's eyes were now on me and Miss' eyebrows were raised as she waited for an answer.

"Yeah", I bit my lip and she sighed at me in frustration before turning back to the board and writing my name at the side. She always did that when she thought someone wasn't paying attention – everyone would get three chances and then a detention and that was my first chance gone.

"Focus please, Lydia", she instructed me and I nodded. She then turned and continued with her lesson.

"Are you going to the party?" Stiles whispered across to me and I furrowed my eyebrows at him.

"I wasn't invited", I replied and he shrugged. "I can't just show up to her party without an invite!" I whispered exasperatedly.

"Lydia!" the teacher yelled and then turned to write another warning down on the board. I closed my mouth and faced the front, "And you Mr Stilinski, I know she's not just talking to herself", she wrote Stiles' name underneath mine.

"You don't need an invite to come, everyone just shows up", Stiles continued when the teachers back was turned again.

"Are Scott, Kira and Malia going?" I questioned, first checking to make sure the teacher was still not looking.

"No but I'll invite them. I only found out about it just then", he murmured quietly and I nodded.

"That's it, both of you are in detention tonight!" the teacher exclaimed, "And Stiles, if that's your idea of a hushed whisper then you might want to pull the headphones out every once in a while", she added coldly.

He opened his mouth to argue but she raised her hand to cut him off, "I don't want to hear it right now, save it for tonight", she huffed.

Great… detention with Stiles Stilinski. Like I didn't see too much of him anyway! How was I supposed to get over him when things kept pulling us together?


	12. Chapter 12

_Snuck another TW scene in there ;D You'll know what I mean_

The sound of the bell at the end of the day didn't bring out my usual excited feeling of going home. That would be because I wasn't going home yet… I had detention with freaking Stiles. I had never been in detention before so had no idea where to go – stupid, right? I'd been at this school for years so you'd think I would know where detention was by now.

"Lost?" Malia skipped up behind me, an amused smile on her lips.

"Completely", I laughed, running my fingers through my hair.

"Detention is in Mr Harris' room", she pointed down the hall, "Well, that's where you go. He gives little 'make-up' tasks to 'redeem yourself'", she rolled her eyes as she said it. I frowned at her; how did she even know I had detention? I hadn't seen any of the others since lunch.

"Stiles told us all you guys had detention when he invited us to some party", she shrugged as if she had read my mind, "I have detention too, I'll walk with you", she smiled. Unlike Kira, she wasn't a hands on, link-arms kind of girl. She seemed to have a rule of being at least an inch apart when walking together. I guess she likes her personal space.

When we got into Mr Harris' classroom, he was stood at the front with glaring eyes. There were four rows of desks. Each one was spaced out evenly to make it almost impossible to talk to someone without being heard. I could tell already what kind of a teacher this guy was.

I sat in the second row and Malia took the desk next to mine. There were already people filling the back two rows and a few others were in the second and front. I searched around for Stiles. Coincidently, he sauntered into the classroom just at that moment, giving me a small nod in greeting and then taking the seat in front of me.

"I'm not going to lecture you because the self-loathing should already be more than enough punishment", Harris called out to everybody. Wow, he was a nice guy… not.

"But I am however going to punish you more", he picked up a list of paper, "There are quite a few jobs here", he darted his eyes around the room. Everybody was silent, as if they were scared of him.

"You two", he paired two people from the back two rows with his fingers, "Re-shelving the library"

"You two", he paired the two people that sat in front of them", "Litter picking the grounds". My heart started to pummel out of my chest; if he was pairing people with the row in front of them, I'd be with Stiles. He gave more and more people tasks, edging closer to me each time.

"You", he gestured to Malia and some other girl that sat in front of her, "Weeding the schools garden", he then paired the two people behind me and my heart froze. Stiles and I were the only ones left.

"And you two", he smiled fakely at Stiles, "Re-stocking the supply closets… all of them", he stated with a smug tone.

"Are you kidding?" Stiles sat forwards exasperatedly, "There had to be like fifteen of them", he stated. Mr Harris smirked.

"That's right", he handed Stiles a sheet of paper, "And if I go into any of these and they're not stocked properly, you'll be in detention for the rest of your high school career"

Stiles stood up quietly and I could imagine the look of his face without even seeing it. He looked back at me and jerked his head to tell me to follow, so I did. It was awkwardly silent as we made our way to a room filled with newly delivered boxes of supplies.

"Help me fill this", he muttered, grabbing a metal trolley and dragging it towards us. I remained quiet as we filled it; he looked like he wasn't in the mood to talk right now.

I picked up the piece of paper Harris gave him and read what was on it. There was a list of supplies for each closet and Stiles was right, there were fifteen of them.

"That's going to take all night!" I huffed to nobody in particular. Stiles hummed in agreement and then pushed the trolley out of the door.

"Then we better get started", he sighed. I ran after him to catch up and we made our way to the first closet.

The first five we stocked took about three hours… three hours of awkward silence that I was dying to break. By the time we were half done with the sixth closet, I couldn't handle the quiet anymore.

"Why does that guy hate you so much?" I asked quickly, "Mr Harris, I mean", I tried to make it seem like the question had only just come into my mind and that I hadn't been dying to ask the whole time.

"My dad questioned him about a body and he wasn't happy, so he's made me his 'personal project'" he explained, still stacking shelves as he spoke. My heart fluttered at the word 'project' as I remembered Malia's explanation of what I had been to him.

I didn't say anything else, annoyance filling me. We continued to stock silently for four more closets and I really wanted to go home. We got to number eleven and I wanted to cry at how empty and cramped it was. Standing in it together, our backs were pressed against each other and we barely had enough room to move.

Being close to a door, a gust of wind blew the trolley fully into the cupboard with us and the door slammed shut. I was pushed over by the boxes on the trolley but Stiles caught my arm before I hit the ground.

"Thanks", I breathed out, brushing myself down and then trying to squeeze over to the door handle.

"No problem", he mumbled, "Try and get the door open", he instructed, holding onto my waist to steady me as I leant over the metal roller; there was no room to go around it. I grabbed the handle and pushed down but it wouldn't budge.

"It's not opening", I panicked, rattling the handle dramatically in the hopes it would magically open.

"Maybe it locks from the outside?" he suggested calmly. How could he remain calm at a moment like this, what if we got stuck and starved to death?

"Oh no, oh my god", I pushed forcefully on the door.

"Would you relax?" Stiles laughed, "Teachers come into the closets all the time after school. We'll get found soon", he pulled me away from the handle and I stood in front of him, facing him

The trolley literally took up half of the room, leaving us with about 8 inches to stand in but the wooden shelves made it so only one person could really fit and the other had to stand in front of them.

My heart was thumbing out of my chest at being stood this close to Stiles. I could feel his breath on my cheek and I felt like I was about to pass out. And then suddenly… it got awkward.

"What are you doing?" I whispered and he furrowed his eyebrows at me.

"I'm not doing anything", he sounded confused. He genuinely didn't realise.

"Part of you is doing something", I tried not to laugh as he looked down and shock jumped onto his face.

"Oh… sorry", he scratched his neck awkwardly and he actually looked sort of nervous about it. We stood quietly for a few seconds.

"Stop", I tried to stand back slightly but there was no room at all.

"I kind of don't have control over that", he winced.

"Okay well, I'm gonna turn around", I told him and he nodded. I wriggled until I was facing the other way in the hopes that it was better.

"Lydia", Stiles whispered.

"What?" I glanced at him over my shoulder and he was wincing again.

"That's worse", he told me. I put my hand over my mouth to stifle a laugh and turned around again.

We both laughed slightly and then he looked into my eyes. I noticed his gaze dart back and forth between my eyes and my lips and my heart was racing. My lips parted slightly so that I could breath and his did the same as he slowly leant forward towards me.

"What do you two idiots think you're doing?" Mr Harris' voice echoed around the room and I realized that the door was open. He pulled the trolled out of the room and Stiles and I both filed out. "If I can't trust you to do a simple task like this, you might as well go home" Harris instructed bluntly and then stormed away from us, dragging the trolley with him.

I walked out of the building with Stiles, not saying anything to each other. He continued to walk with me up until the path I walked down to get home, even though we had passed his Jeep.

"I…" he tapped his fingers onto his jeans nervously, "I'm really sorry about that", he laughed nervously.

"Don't worry about it", I gave him a friendly dig in the arm and he nodded, "See ya later Stilinski", I smiled.

"Bye Lyds", he walked backwards and gave me a small wave before turning around and heading for his car.

I couldn't help but smile the whole way home. Maybe it was only because I was pressed against him, but I had still caused that. Not only that, we had almost kissed too. That was literally the best detention I could ever have imagined.


	13. Chapter 13

"I swear to god we almost kissed!" I beamed through my skype call to Allison. As soon as I had made it home, the first thing I did was call her.

"I cannot believe you didn't tell me you liked him!" she huffed and folded her arms in annoyance.

"I know, I'm sorry", I pulled an angelic expression, "If it makes you feel better, you're the first to know"

"You didn't tell Kira?" she frowned in surprise and then it hit me – Allison was jealous of my friendship with her. I hadn't even thought about that; I'm usually the one jealous of Allison.

"I don't tell Kira these things", I told her honestly, "They're strictly for you", I giggled and she cheered up immediately.

"Okay, so why didn't you kiss?" she sat forwards, ready to absorb any information she could get. I explained to her everything about Harris opening the door and then sending us home. I explained how he walked with me until the path.

"And when we got to the path, he apologized. I think the reason we almost kissed was only because we were pressed up against each other in an 8cm gap, but it's still something!" I squealed and she shook her head and smiled innocently at me.

"Oh Lydia, you're so naïve" she laughed and I raised my eyebrows, waiting for her to explain, "Someone like Stiles doesn't get caught out like that. He was apologizing for the boner, not the kiss!" she thumped the camera in the way she used to thump by forehead when I was acting stupid.

"What do you mean 'someone like Stiles doesn't get caught out like that'?" I imitated her voice and she rolled her eyes playfully.

"He has girls pressed against him daily, fighting for his attention and he never reacts like that" she raised her arms as if it were obvious but I still wasn't convinced.

"Well they weren't in an 8cm, enclosed space with him", I pointed out "It didn't mean anything. He knows I like him so why not make a move?"

Allison thought for a moment before sighing, "I don't know", she shook her head, "But he _has_ to like you", she was practically praying for it.

"He's Stiles Stilinski, he doesn't _have_ to do anything", I grinned and she giggled slightly before yawning and glancing at her clock.

"It's late, I should get to sleep. Goodnight Lyds" she gave me a small wave.

"Night", I waved back and then we both closed our laptops, disconnecting the call. I lay in bed for a while, smiling at the ceiling like an idiot thinking about today. Eventually, fatigue filled my eyelids and they drifted closed.

I woke easily the next morning, actually looking forward to going to school for once. I spent extra time picking out my clothes for today, wanting to look nice. I would like to say it was for Stiles but it wasn't. It was actually to one-up that blonde chick, Erica. She looked phenomenal and she was interested in Stiles which definitely hurt my already miniscule chances.

I skipped the coffee, already feeling hyped up for some reason and I could tell my mother was happy about it, although she didn't say anything. I even let her drop me off so that I would get there earlier to hang out with my group for a while.

I found Kira, Scott and Malia all sitting on a brick wall when I arrived. They all looked surprised when I walked over and they greeted happily. I sort of felt bad for showing up late all the time and ditching them. There was no sign of Stiles anywhere and I figured that he must come later, like me.

"Where's Stiles?" I asked casually, glancing around to try and make it look as if I was just realising he wasn't with us.

"Practicing lacrosse", Kira pointed over to the field, "He always does in the mornings", she added.

"Maybe you could check on him?" Scott cut in and Kira grinned up at him for a second before returning to a straight face.

"Yeah", Malia contributed. I could tell that someone else was going on but I couldn't even be bothered to figure out what it was; if they had a secret they didn't want to tell me, so be it. I had one I wasn't telling them either.

"Okay", I shrugged, eyeing up their, slightly creepy, grins for a few seconds and then squeezing past them and towards the field. I imagined that it would probably turn out Stiles wasn't even playing lacrosse but that by the time I got back to them, they had finished discussing whatever secret they were discussing.

I reached the bleachers and was about to turn around when I saw a figure jumping up and launching a ball straight into the net. I could tell just by the shape of his back that it was Stiles… a shirtless Stiles, abs out and everything. I was practically drooling. I was so wrapped up in my daydream about his abs that I didn't even notice that he had seen me. I didn't until he was running towards me, his stick over his shoulder.

"Hey", he gave me his usual lopsided smile and I forced myself to look at his face, not his bare chest.

"Hi", I smiled back, "Uh…" I pointed back towards where the others were but no words were coming out to join my gesture.

"They send you to check up on me?" he asked, gulping down some water from a bottle as I nodded.

"Is something wrong?" I frowned. How had he known they would be sending me to check on him?

"No, they just think we should be dating or something", he shrugged and I actually chocked on the air. "You okay?" he laughed.

"Yeah", I breathed out, trying to keep my cool but I ended up making the choking worse. I was soon in a fit of coughing and my cheeks turned red from embarrassment.

Stiles wrapped one of his muscular arms around my lower back and used the other to gently slap the upper back. Eventually, the coughing stopped and he stopped tapping but his other arm stayed around me.

"Try not to die, Lydia", he laughed, "I need you for the party this weekend. Wouldn't want me going alone, would you?" he grinned. I almost started choking again.

"We're going together?" I blurted out before I even realised I was speaking.

"Malia said she's not going anymore and Scott and Kira are going together so it just makes sense" he reached into his bag and pulled out a black t-shirt, "Unless you already had plans with someone else?" he paused momentarily to look at me. I shook my head, not being able to speak while he was still shirtless and he nodded, smiling. He then pulled his shirt over his head and threw his bag onto his back.

"Come on, the bell will go soon", he started walking and I followed, my heart beating almost as fast as when we were stuck in the closet; I was going to the party _with_ Stiles!


	14. Chapter 14

"Pick you up at 6:30 tomorrow night, yeah?" Stiles confirmed as we walked out of the school doors on Friday afternoon.

"Yeah, sounds good", I swallowed hard and forced a smile to hide how nervous I felt.

"Cool", he winked at me and my chest exploded, "Cya then, Lyds", he walked backwards.

"See you then", I waved and then he turned around. Just hearing him call me 'Lyds' was always enough to send me crazy.

When I got home, I spent hours picking out something to wear. This was the most difficult decision _ever_ ; it was Erica's party and she was obviously going to look flawless. Giving up, I skyped Allison for help.

"What about the blue dress you got for your birthday?" she suggested after I had finished ranting from my stressing.

"Allison, I look like a thumb in that thing!" I huffed and she rolled her eyes.

"You don't!" she insisted, "Put it on and let me see"

"Ally…" I whined and she gave me a look to tell me to hurry up. I dug the dress from the back of my wardrobe and forced it onto my body. It definitely felt 'secure' around me…

"See!" I heard Allison shout behind me and I spun around to face her. "It clings to you in all the right places, shows off your boobs and makes you look hot", she concluded, folding her arms proudly. I looked in the mirror. I didn't agree with her but I definitely looked better in it than I remembered.

"This isn't even going to come close to Erica", I sighed as I shook the dress off and jumped into a comfy t-shirt and some jeans.

"Don't worry about Erica. She has nothing to do with you. Just worry about what you need to do to get Stiles to make a move!" she grinned and I let my face fall into my hands after poking my tongue at her playfully.

We talked about her relationship with Isaac for a while until she eventually told me she needed sleep and we ended the call. I tossed and turned, not being able to sleep; wishful scenarios for the party and Stiles realising his love for me played out in my mind.

I must have fallen asleep at some point because I woke the next morning with the sun blinding my eyes. The clock next to my bed informed me that it was half past 11 so I pushed myself out of bed to have a shower.

I paced around in my room for a while, time going painfully slow. I tried to watch a movie but I couldn't focus on it and found myself constantly checking how long was left of it so I just gave up. At 1:00pm, I went down to the kitchen to get some lunch. My mom was down at the school to 'concentrate better on marking test papers' so I was alone. I threw some spaghetti into a pan and put it onto the cooker, my stomach rumbling impatiently.

Prada went into a fit of barking as the doorbell sounded and I groaned loudly, pushing her into a small room and closing the door temporarily to keep her out of the way. I stomped over to the door and threw it open.

"Hey", Stiles smiled, his hands in his pockets as he stood on my doorstep. I stared at him, open mouthed and stunned. "You in there?" he smirked, knocking gently on my forehead with his fist.

"Sorry", I shook my head, "I just didn't expect you, you're early", I pulled out my phone and checked the time just to make sure I wasn't being stupid. Nope, it was only quarter past one.

"Yeah I decided to come earlier just to hang out, I was bored", he explained and then he knocked his knuckles to his forehead as if calling himself stupid, "I should have called first, I'm sorry. Are you busy?"

"No", I answered quickly, "Come in, I was just making some spaghetti" I moved to the side to let him in, "Are you hungry?"

"Not until you mentioned it but yeah, I'm starving", he laughed, stepping past me and entering my house. My heart immediately started to flip over - Stiles was in _my_ house, alone!

I let Prada out and then headed over to the cooker. My hands were shaking as I stirred the pasta around the saucepan, feeling his eyes watching me intently. He started to tap out a rhythm on the counter with his fingertips, humming a tune to go with it and it actually made me feel calmer.

"Do you mind if I get a drink?" he asked as I shoved some Bolognese sauce into the microwave.

"Sorry, I'll get you one", I rushed over to the cupboard and quickly grabbed a glass. I spun around to ask him what he wanted but he was stood right behind me, looking down at me with his freaking lopsided smile. I jumped, the glass sliding out of my hands and smashing on the floor tiles. This would have been okay if not for the fact I was bare foot, surrounded by tiny shards of glass. I couldn't even jump over them; the shards splintered into thousands of pieces and spread all across the kitchen.

"Shit, sorry!" Stiles looked down and I followed his gaze, noticing small patches of blood at the sides of both of my feet. I hadn't even felt the glass cut me.

"It's not your fault, it's mine", I laughed awkwardly, looking around in the hopes of finding a brush of some kind.

I squealed slightly as Stiles bent down and swept me off my feet, literally. He walked with me until we were out of the glass zone and sat me on the counter.

"Where do you keep a brush?" he smiled.

"Top draw", I pointed it out and felt immediately bad when he started to sweep the floor himself. "You don't have to, I can do it", I insisted but he didn't reply, continuing to sweep the glass into a pile.

"Do you have something to sweep them into?" he asked and I handed him an empty cardboard box, not bothering to insist on him not bothering this time. He wouldn't listen.

He disappeared with the cardboard for a while. When he came back, a first aid box was in his hand. I looked down at my feet and then back at him, about to tell him that I was fine but he held his hand up to shush me, crouching down and examining the wounds.

"What are you wearing to the party?" he looked up at me and then turned his attention to rummaging inside the first aid box.

"I have this blue dress that I got for my birthday. I don't look great in it but it's – OW!" I yelled out as pain surged through my foot. "What the hell was that?" I kicked his arm with my toes.

"You had glass stuck in there. I had to distract you so you wouldn't be a baby about it", he grinned and I opened my mouth to protest but closed it soon after; I had literally just proved him right. He gently stuck plasters over the sides of my feet and then stood up.

The angle he was crouched had made it so that he was in between my legs. His hands rested on the counter either side of me and he stared deeply into my eyes. My breathing deepened and my pulse rate rose rapidly as he licked his bottom lip.

The microwave suddenly started beeping and our eye contact broke. I jumped down off the side and rushed over to the boiling spaghetti, turning the dial off on the cooker. Why did it have to be so that every time I thought I was getting somewhere, something had to go wrong? I groaned quietly to myself as I dished up the meal and then I set it down on the counter, in front of some stools.

"Looks great", Stiles rubbed his hands together as he sat down and I slumped down next to him.


	15. Chapter 15

I stared at myself in the mirror, dreading going downstairs. The spaghetti had turned out to be way too filling and, five hours later, I still felt like a fat lump. It made getting ready for the party extremely difficult; I already looked bad enough without having the mind-set of a blob fish. I styled my hair and applied my make-up to try and distract from everything else. Once I realized I couldn't do anything more, I made my way downstairs again.

Stiles was sitting on my sofa, looking bored. I took a deep breath in and strolled into the room, praying for a good reaction from him. He looked up at me and then pushed himself up off the seat.

"You ready to go?" he smiled and I nodded, my heart sinking from the lack of reaction. I wasn't hoping for much, even a small smile would have be enough for me. I followed him out to his Jeep and he opened the passenger door for me.

I clambered into the car, trying desperately not to look like a dying fly and then smoothed out my dress. Stiles hovered by the door for a while.

"By the way you were wrong", he stated and I frowned at him in confusion.

"Wrong about what?" I asked suspiciously.

"When you said you didn't look good in that dress… you were wrong", he shrugged and then closed the door and started to walk around the car to the driver's side. My heart thumped so loudly, I was actually scared he might hear it from where he sat and I struggled to keep the smile off my face as he drove us to the party.

When we pulled up outside, we both walked in sync towards the door. I raised my hand to knock but he stopped me, opening the door. I guess Erica didn't mind who came into her house. Music vibrated my body as it boomed through the entire house. People danced everywhere. Some I recognised vaguely but the rest were strangers to me.

"Want a drink?" Stiles shouted, leaning in close to my ear to make sure I heard him. I nodded. My breath got caught in my throat, affecting my ability to talk. How did he always do that? I watched as he made his way to a large bowl and started to scoop the drink into some plastic cups.

"Hi", a body stepped in front of me, blocking my view. A tallish guy with big muscles and a brooding forehead smiled down at me. He was cute but he _wasn't_ Stiles and I _wasn't_ interested.

"Hi", I gave him a small smile and then looked around the room with a bored expression, hoping he would get the message and move onto the next girl he saw.

"Can I get you a drink?" he grinned and I glared at him. I didn't mean to but it just happened; he didn't even know my name yet and he was already offering me alcoholic drinks.

"I'm getting one", I glanced past him and searched for Stiles, criminally excited to see this guy's face when he saw him.

When I found him I froze. My entire body felt like it had been shattered as Erica's hands tangled into Stiles' hair and her lips pushed against his. What made it worse was the fact that his hands were on her hips and he was reciprocating the kiss. As soon as they pulled apart, Stiles' eyes fell on me.

I quickly spun to face muscle guy. "What's your name?" I asked quickly.

"Uh, Aiden", he furrowed his eyebrows, clearly confused at my sudden change in attitude towards him.

"Aiden", I repeated, sticking the name into my brain, "I'm Lydia". I peeked in the corner of my eye and Stiles was stepping around people, coming towards me.

"Well Lydia, I…" he started to say something but I cut him off, yanking his face towards mine and crashing out lips together. He seemed shocked at first but his arms soon wrapped around me and he kissed back. He was not what I would call a great kisser but that wasn't what this was about. Stiles may not love me but I hoped that he felt something for me, even if small. I was hoping that kissing 'Aiden' would make him at least a little jealous. He wouldn't be heart-broken like me but hopefully he would be a little irritated.

I didn't pull away until my breath ran out and when I did, Aiden was in a daze. I immediately looked over to Stiles but he was gone… and so was Erica. It hadn't worked. Stiles officially did not care about me. He was probably off hooking up with Erica right now. Maybe all he was coming to say was that he wasn't giving me a ride home because he was staying here… with her.

"Well that was… unexpected", Aiden laughed and I couldn't have agreed more. I couldn't believe that I had lowered myself to the level of kissing him just to try and make Stiles jealous. I didn't think I was the type of person.

"I have to go", I muttered and his smile dropped. I shot an apologetic look at him and then pushed my way towards the door before he could say anything else to make me feel worse.

"Lydia!" Kira tapped my shoulder to get my attention and I turned to face her. My tears wouldn't hold back, no matter how hard I willed them too and she noticed immediately. She held a finger up to Scott to signify she would be back and then dragged me out of the party.

I made a gasping sound as I tried to quieten my cries and then slumped down onto a curb, laying my face in my hands and sobbing slightly.

"Lydia, what happened?" Kira rubbed my shoulder and I pulled my hands away from my face to look at her. I couldn't be bothered to hide it from her anymore.

"I think I'm in love with Stiles", I blurted and she wrapped her arm around my shoulder, sighing loudly.

"Erica?" she guessed and I frowned at her. How often did Stiles hook up with her if Kira knew it would be her?

"How did you know?" I breathed out and she smiled at me sadly.

"He does this every time he goes to one of her parties", she explained. This was really not helping me feel better. "I'm totally sure he likes you Lydia, so are Malia and Scott", she tried to put on a cheery voice.

"Clearly", I retorted sarcastically and she sighed again.

"I don't know why he's with Erica when he came here with you though", she queried and I practically scoffed.

"Because he doesn't like me, he's made that pretty clear by now. If he did, why hasn't he made a move? It's pretty obvious that I like him!" I ranted and she didn't reply. There was nothing else to say, I had proven my point.


	16. Chapter 16

I was back to square one on Monday. I was dreading school and arriving late to avoid Stiles again. The first lesson was English. As soon as I got into the room, I begged Sydney if I could swap seats with her. She agreed straight away; everyone wanted to sit next to Stiles.

When Stiles walked in, I pretended I didn't notice his questioning look. He glared at Sydney as he slumped down into his seat – he must have thought it was her fault. That _she_ was the one that stole _my_ seat.

I didn't look at him the whole lesson. Every time I did, I remembered him kissing Erica and my heart shattered all over again. As soon as the bell rang, I stood up and rushed out immediately so that I would be in front of everyone else and he would be behind. I heard him calling out my name but I didn't turn back.

At lunch time I hung out with Kira and Malia. Scott had agreed to keep Stiles away somehow. They talked and soothed me, saying things like that I was much prettier than Erica and Stiles must be blind not to see that. None of it was helping though because I knew it wasn't true.

At the end of the day, I walked quickly out of the school building and towards the path I took home. As I walked through the parking lot, I looked for Stiles' Jeep to see if he had left yet. I found the Jeep… also Stiles and Erica. They stood pretty much in the exact position I had seen them before, her leaning against his car and his arm resting behind her. This time, however, I didn't stick around. I was halfway down the path in a flash, more angry than upset.

I walked slowly, kicking stones as I went along and sulking about how much I hated Erica Reyes. My stomach knotted up immediately when I saw the blue 1976 CJ5 Jeep parked outside my house. To make it worse, Stiles was stood leaning against it and had already spotted me. There was no turning back now.

"Hey", he called out as I crossed the road and headed towards him. I didn't say anything; I wanted him to know that I was annoyed.

"What happened to you last night, I was looking for you", he frowned and I hated myself for wanting to kiss him so badly right now.

"I went home", I told him shortly, shuffling on my heels and fixing my eyes on the ground so that I wouldn't be distracted by his face. I couldn't stay mad if he looked at me with those adorable chocolate eyes.

"Ok…" he sounded confused, "Well you could have just told me and I would have taken you… I thought that was the point in us going together", he had a tone in his voice but I couldn't quite put my finger on which emotion it was.

"You seemed busy", I answered bluntly again, "How was Erica by the way?" I looked up at him again with fake curiosity and his eyes narrowed at me. There was a look on his face that matched the tone of voice he had but I still couldn't decide what it was.

"She was great", he grunted after a while of staring at me to see if I was serious, "How was Aiden?" he raised his eyebrows challengingly at me and I scoffed.

"He's a super great kisser", I lied, "Best I've ever had" I folded my arms and watched the expression return. Now that he was fully doing it, I knew what emotion it was… it was hurt. I had basically just told him that Aiden was a better kisser than him since he was like the only other person I had kissed.

"Well I should go", he yanked open the door to his Jeep with so much force I thought it was going to snap off, "Don't wanna get kicked out by your mom again when she gets home", he jumped into the driver's seat and started the engine, not closing the door yet. He looked into my eyes for a second as if waiting for something.

"Great", I shrugged, "Bye Stiles", I started to storm off towards my house.

"Cya", I heard him mutter and then I heard the sound of his door slamming shut and him reversing out of my drive way. I threw open my front door and stepped inside, slamming it shut again behind me.

A mix of anger and hurt flowed through my body and tears threatened to prick my eyes. I groaned loudly, jumping on the spot. I ran to the window and watched the tail lights of his Jeep drift away from the house, desperately hoping he would realise his love for me and turn around. I watched him turn a corner and I sunk down into the chair, pulling my phone out and going into my contacts. I hovered above Stiles' number, unsure of whether to call him or not and also hoping he would call me first. I dropped my phone onto the floor and lay back on the sofa, covering my face with my hands and groaning again.

I eventually stood up and headed upstairs, into my room and dropping to the floor. I opened my laptop and logged into Skype and then called Allison.

"What's wrong?" Allison asked once she had answered. I could see Isaac sitting in the background, trying not to listen in.

"We don't have to talk now if you're busy", I gestured towards Isaac and she could hardly keep the smile off her face. But she tried, knowing that I was sad.

"It's fine. You have to meet him at some point, right?" she beckoned him over and he sat next to her on the carpet.

"Hi", I gave him a small wave and smiled warmly at him.

"Hey", he smiled back. He was American but there was a small hint of British in there, "If you don't feel comfortable talking while I'm here then I can leave?" he suggested thoughtfully.

"No its fine", I said quickly. I didn't really want him there but Allison did so I let him stay. He's in a different country, what's the worst that could happen?

I explained about what happened at the party and avoiding him all day at school. I paused for a second to let it sink in before launching into a detailed explanation of what had just happened outside my house.

"I've ruined everything", I whimpered, "He was being friendly when he was here and I drove him away", I let a small tear escape and roll down my cheek.

"I'm sure you didn't, Lydia," Allison soothed, glancing sadly at Isaac.

"Do you know he definitely slept with her?" Isaac jumped in "You didn't see them leave together and he could have just gone because he actually _was_ jealous" he suggested and then shrank down, looking kind of embarrassed for getting into my business.

"No I didn't see them leave together…" I pondered and Allison smiled proudly at her boyfriend's words, "But Kira says he does this every time he goes to one of her parties", I argued.

"And that's why you think he went off with her", Allison cut in, "But, like Isaac said, you didn't see them leave together and it could just be a misunderstanding"

"That's a pretty big misunderstanding", I huffed, "I mean, what are the chances of a coincidence that big?"

"There's still chance that it is a coincidence though", Isaac replied, "Talk to him tomorrow and find out", he smiled.

A few hours of arguing later, I finally agreed to talk to him tomorrow. I lay in bed, unable to sleep for the hundredth time as I dreaded the conversation. I had said that I hated Erica but it wasn't her fault. She was just another girl star-struck by Stiles. It was him that I hated. I hated Stiles Stilinski again.


	17. Chapter 17

It was now the last day of school before summer break and Stiles and I hadn't spoken a word to each other. I had promised Allison and Isaac that I would talk to him but it hadn't worked out that way. It wasn't my fault; I had actually even gone looking for him. He was the one avoiding me. A week passed and he stopped hanging out with the group. Instead, he stayed by Erica all day, every day. That's why it didn't come as much of a surprise to me when they started dating. It still hurt though… a lot. Each day I would walk down the hall and they would be making out. I would go in for lunch and they would be making out. I would walk out of the school doors and they would be making out. Each time I saw it, it never got easier.

"Thank god it's the last day", I muttered to Kira as we both pulled a disgusted face at Erica sitting on Stiles' lap. I always acted like it wasn't that big of a deal but inside it felt as if I were being punched in the gut by Stiles himself.

"There are seven seats around them, I counted", Kira pointed out, "Why does she have to sit on him?" she rolled her eyes and then turned her attention away from them. I knew what she was doing. _She_ even sat on Scott's knee sometimes. She just wanted me to feel better.

Even though I loved him, so much hate for him was inside me too, mostly because he had completely ditched the entire group, even Scott, his best friend. I had wanted to scold Stiles about it but hadn't been able to get near him with Erica around. If I didn't talk to him today, he wouldn't hang around with Scott, Kira or Malia the entire summer. I didn't particularly want him around me but I didn't have to join them…

"Can you do me a favour?" I tapped Kira's shoulder and she turned to face me with a smile.

"Anything", she grinned. I knew she wouldn't like this but I had to ask anyway.

"I know you hate her, but I need you to distract Erica so I can talk to Stiles without her butting in", I shot her an apologetic look immediately after saying it and she groaned loudly but agreed to help anyway.

"You owe me!" she growled as she stood up and started to walk towards them.

"You're doing it now?" I frowned and she turned back to face me, annoyance written on her features.

"When else?" she huffed, "You won't see Stiles for the rest of the day". She was right - I had no more classes with him today.

"I love you!" I called after her as she strode over to their table. I watched as Stiles barely took notice of her as she rested her hands onto the table in front of them. He was too involved in Erica. She however, looked straight up at Kira and glared slightly.

I tried to hear what Kira was saying but I was forced to look away from them when Stiles' eyes made contact with mine. My cheeks flushed red in embarrassment; he had definitely caught me staring. When I next glanced back, Erica was strutting behind Kira and Stiles was shoving things into his bag, getting ready to leave.

I rapidly flew out of my seat and hurried over to the table before I lost my chance. He flicked his eyes towards me but didn't say anything. His lips pursed tightly and he folded his arms, raising his eyebrows in an impatient way.

"We need to talk", I mimicked his folded arms and his eyes narrowed at me. He gestured with his hand for me to continue, still not saying a word.

"Whatever you're mad at me for, take it out on me… just me", I breathed out shakily as relief from finally getting those words out filled me.

"I don't know what you're talking about", Stiles murmured, starting to storm off but I raced after him, determined not to let him leave without hearing what I had to say.

"You haven't even talked to any of us in a week!" I shouted after him but he didn't slow down, "I need to get this out so will you just stop?" I practically begged. He shook his head and I internally groaned, my small legs starting to ache from the fast-paced walking.

"You can't just ignore everyone. Yeah, ignore me if it makes you feel better but you should hang out with everyone else again at least once this summer, please!" I called.

Stiles suddenly stopped, spinning around so unexpectedly that I almost crashed straight into him. His face was inches from mine. I could feel his breath, hot and heavy against my nose.

"Why do you think I'm mad at you?" he asked so quietly, I almost didn't hear him.

"Because you've been ignoring…" I started.

"No, I mean what reason do you think I'm mad at you", he interrupted bluntly.

"I just assumed it was because I said Aiden was a better kisser than you", I whispered, slightly breathless.

"Do you still love me?" he changed the subject and I wanted to slap him. Here he was, standing inches away from my face while asking me the hardest question for me to answer in the entire universe. To be honest, I wasn't sure of the answer. I wanted it to be no.

"Why are you asking me this?" I shook my head and started to step away from him but he caught my arm.

"Just answer this one question and I'll start doing things with the guys again", he shrugged, "It's easy", he started deeply into my eyes. He didn't know just how hard this question was. It wasn't _easy_ at all.

"No", I replied, "I don't"

He continued to keep his grip on my arm for a few more seconds before releasing it and stepping away from me.

"I don't believe you", he laughed humourlessly, "That's why you get so bothered when I'm with Erica"

"Do you love Erica?" I swallowed hard, praying he would answer the question and not just walk away.

"No", he shrugged, "And she doesn't love me either. She's just with me to make Boyd jealous. We made this agreement at her party". I couldn't believe it – this entire time, they weren't even properly together. They didn't love each other.

"Do you love anyone?" I asked as he started slowly stepping backwards. I genuinely wanted to know the answer – was Stiles capable of having an actual relationship at all?

"No", he replied, "I don't"


	18. Chapter 18

"Is someone going to tell me what's going on?" I questioned. Kira had invited me, Malia and Scott to the café after school and everyone but me seemed to know why. They all had sly smiles and smirks and I was sat there, clueless.

"Okay guys, we've kept it a secret long enough", Kira finally spoke and then turned to talk to me, "If we don't tell you now, you'll end up making plans" she grinned.

"What are you talking about?" I laughed, shaking my head, completely clueless. Malia and Scott were beaming brightly and it was starting to freak me out.

"We're going to Hawaii!" Kira called out in a high-pitched, squeaky, exited tone. Scott laughed and Malia visibly cringed as people on nearby tables glared at us. Kira didn't care though, she was way too excited.

"You mean us four?" I asked, not wanting to get my hopes up just in case she meant only her and Scott or something like that. Kira started to speak but I noticed Malia kick her leg under the table and she yelped.

"Yes, the four of us are going", Malia answered and I nodded, getting almost as excited as Kira was acting. I was just better at keeping it under control.

I got home at about 5:00pm and Kira sent me all of the details about the holiday. We would be going Sunday morning. I would have to get up at 2:00am for the airport and we boarded at 4:30am. I showed my mom, begging her to let me go. She refused at first, complaining about money, short notice and buying clothes but I eventually convinced her.

I let myself lie in for a while on Saturday, knowing I had an early morning tomorrow. I got up at 11, got ready and skyped Allison for an hour, telling her all about the holiday. Kira came to pick me up at lunch time and we headed over to the nearest shopping centre.

"What about this?" she raised her eyebrows in mock seduction as she held a bikini up to her body. It looked incredible just hovering in front of her, let alone on her.

"It looks great", I giggled, examining a new costume for myself, "Scott will definitely like it"

"I meant for you", she giggled, "And I hope you didn't know that, since you just said my boyfriend will like it", she teased.

"I didn't!" I raised my hands in mock surrender, "But that will not suit me. Bikini's don't like me", I grinned. She pondered something for a while, her nose scrunching up while she thought up a plan.

"Let's make a bet", she gazed over the pile of clothes sitting in my trolley, "Try it on and if it doesn't suit you, you don't have to buy it"

"And if it suits me?" I raised one eyebrow in question.

"Then I can choose all of your outfits to buy", she decided quickly, "Because you are _not_ wearing these in Hawaii", she held up a pair of knee length, blue, denim shorts.

"Okay, A: what's wrong with knee length shorts", I frowned, "And, B: You won't even win the bet, so don't get your hopes up", I giggled.

Ten minutes later, I was hovering behind the curtain, bikini on – I didn't want to come out, it was embarrassing. Kira paced impatiently while she waited, eventually peering behind the curtain to see what was taking me so long. When she saw me, she dropped her mouth open dramatically. I wanted to cover myself, feeling self-conscious. How bad did it look?

"I get to choose your holiday clothes", she told me shortly, dusted her hands, turning around and walking away, out of the changing rooms.

By the end of the shopping trip, I had bags filled with mini shorts, tank tops, dresses, bikinis and skirts. My knee length shorts were as far away from my bags as possible, Kira made sure of it. She dropped me home and I headed straight upstairs, skyping Allison again and packing my suitcase.

"She really made you buy all that?" Allison giggled as I showed her each of my new items of clothing, "That isn't like you at all"

"Tell me about it!" I huffed, "Now I'll be feeling self-conscious the entire holiday and won't be able to relax", I groaned.

"I actually think it's a good thing she made you buy them. You know I've always said you should wear more girly clothes", she shrugged and I felt kind of hurt.

"What's wrong with my clothes?" I frowned and her face immediately filled with remorse.

"I didn't mean that Lydia, your clothes are fine… just not for Hawaii", she smiled. I guess she was kind of right.

We chatted for a couple of hours until I decided it would be best for me to go to sleep. She agreed and I ended the call and set an alarm. It was no use, I couldn't sleep at all – I was too exited! At 2:00am, when my alarm went off, my eyes were still wide open.

I pushed myself out of bed and jumped into some casual clothes. Tip-toeing past my mom's room, I dragged my case out of the door and waited on the porch for Kira's car to pull up. My heart pummelled excitedly as I watched her headlights come towards the house. She was alone in the car apart from Malia.

"Where's Scott?" I asked as she helped me shove my suitcase into the boot of her car.

"Meeting us at the airport… he had to pick something up", she answered and then we both got into her car. The journey to the airport was an hour long and, thankfully, I slept the whole way through it.

"Lydia", Malia shook me and I jolted awake, "Come on sleepy, we're here", she grinned. I climbed out of the car and searched around for Kira but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Kira's with Scott inside", she pointed upstairs and then started walking towards the nearest elevator. I followed her, my eyes heavy and half closed. Malia's feet shuffled nervously as we neared our floor and she kept glancing at me through the corner of her eye.

"Are you okay?" I yawned as the elevator doors beeped in preparation for opening on the right floor.

"Please don't kill me for this, it was Kira's idea", she spoke quickly.

I didn't have time to ask what she meant. The doors for the elevator opened and my half-closed eyes snapped wide open as I locked eyes with Kira, Scott and… Stiles.


	19. Chapter 19

I trudged behind Malia as we made our way over to the others. I glared at Kira the whole time, silently scolding her for not telling me he was coming with us. Stiles glanced over at me but I looked away quickly out of instinct and when I looked back, he was facing Scott instead.

"Where's Erica?" Malia questioned, looking around for her. My heart died slightly – was she coming too?

"She couldn't make it. Lots of studying to do", Stiles replied shortly. His voice was husky with sleep and it was clear he hadn't been awake for very long.

"She's studying with Boyd, we had to change the tickets around a bit", Kira added, pulling a face.

"And you're okay with that?" Malia jumped in again. Did none of them know? I shot Stiles a look but he pretended he didn't see it.

"Yeah it's fine", Stiles replied shortly, "I'm gonna get a coffee, anyone want one?" he changed the subject. Everyone shook their heads apart from me.

"I would love one", I practically moaned, craving the energy. He nodded quickly and then disappeared.

"I feel so bad for Stiles, Erica so clearly loves Boyd", Scott leant against the wall behind him and everyone muttered in agreeance. I was so confused; he obviously hadn't told them what he had told me. I couldn't exactly tell them either, it wasn't any of my business and it wasn't my place to say.

"Where is he?" Malia grumbled to herself, looking around for someone.

"He'll be here soon", Kira soothed, "He wouldn't stand you up. He's crazy about you"

"Who?" I frowned, getting even more confused by the second and when you're tired, that's the most infuriating feeling ever.

"Theo Raeken, Malia's new boyfriend", Scott answered and Malia beamed at the sound of his name. It reminded me of how Allison was when she met Isaac and I was happy for her. I didn't understand why she didn't tell me though.

Stiles came back a few minutes later and handed me a hot cup of coffee. I took a huge gulp, sighing into the cup as the energy filled me. We headed over to the nearest café and sat around a table, chatting about what we were going to do when we got to Hawaii.

Suddenly, Malia leaped up from the chair and started running. I didn't realise what was going on until she threw her arms around a guy standing a few meters away from us. It must have been Theo. She yanked his hand, pulling him towards us with a huge grin plastered on her cheeks.

"Lydia, this is Theo", she stood back slightly so he could hold out his hand to shake mine but she clung onto his shoulder protectively.

"Nice to meet you", I shook his outstretched hand and smiled warmly at him. I was sort of hurt that she has introduced him to everyone else, including Stiles, but I hadn't met him until now.

"You too", he grinned. I could feel Stiles watching me and my cheeks turned pink as I pretended I didn't know. Malia gave me a 'what do you think' look, and I smiled and nodded. Her face lit up at my acceptance.

We made room and Theo squeezed onto the table, Malia jumping in after him. Everyone launched into a conversation and as usual I was sitting on the edge, not getting their inside jokes. I noticed Stiles wasn't getting involved either and he looked just as confused as I was.

"Sorry we didn't introduce you to him, Kira was scared he would give away the holiday", Scott whispered in my ear. I nodded, smiling and feeling slightly better for not meeting him before. "Stiles only met him yesterday", he added, "We didn't plan on Stiles coming until then and Erica _was_ supposed to come with him, being his girlfriend and all. Surprisingly, he asked to hang out with us again… can you believe it?" Scott was grinning wildly and I could tell he had missed his best friends company.

A little while later, the announcement was made for us to go departure and we all stood up. The excitement was now overpowering as the dream of going on holiday was becoming a reality. Kira went first, handing her ticket in as she boarded the plane. Next was Scott, then Stiles, then Malia, then Theo and then me.

I followed the others, not having a clue to where I was going. I was still super tired and I just wanted to sit down. I watched Kira's head drop onto Scott's shoulder and his arm wrap around her as they sat together. The panic set in as I finally realised that Malia would be sitting next to her new boyfriend, leaving me either alone… or with Stiles. I looked for which seat I was in, praying that Kira had taken the initiative to seat me and Stiles separately… surely I would be alone, he was supposed to be with Erica.

"You want the window?" Stiles asked as I stepped down the aisle. I glanced down at my plane ticket, confirming it with the seat Stiles was gesturing to… just perfect. Kira had said she had changed the tickets around, I must have gotten Erica's seat instead.

"I don't mind", I gulped, trying to hide how nervous I actually felt. He stood back to let me pass and I wriggled into the seat. He sat down after and I could feel the bare skin on his arm brushing against the bare skin on mine.

"I took your advice by the way", he told me and I hummed at him in confusion – I was becoming confused a lot more since knowing him.

"I'm hanging out with the group more again", he gestured to the plane. Great, so it was my fault that I was stuck on a plane with him for four hours.

"It wasn't _advice_ ", I huffed "I shouldn't have to give advice on seeing your friends… I was just calling you out on it", I turned to look out of the window, away from him.

"Okay, well I followed you ' _calling me out on it'_ '", he mocked my irritated tone and then lay back against the seat and closed his eyes, "You were right", he added.

I flicked my eyes over to his face while he was oblivious and took in his perfect features. I wasn't even sure why I was angry at him; he technically hadn't really done anything wrong. Yeah, he kissed Erica at the party but, A: they weren't really together. He was helping her and, B: we weren't together so it wasn't like he had cheated. It was also _me_ that had driven him away when he was outside my house, trying to talk to me. I had screwed up my chances of ever being with him and now I was taking it out on him and I needed to stop.

"You haven't told the others that you and Erica aren't really together", I murmured and his eyes flicked open again to look at me. He didn't say anything, he just nodded. "Why?" I asked.

"Erica asked me to promise not to tell anyone. She wants us to be believable for Boyd", he shrugged, shifting positions so that he was lying down more.

"Why did you tell me?" I frowned. Erica hadn't exactly said 'don't tell anyone but you can tell Lydia', so he had still broken his promise to her.

"Cause I didn't want you to be upset", he smirked and scoffed at him. There he was – jerk Stiles had come back.

"I wouldn't have been _upset_ , how many times do I have to say I don't love you", I whispered harshly, trying not to bring attention to us.

"You can say it as many times as you like, it doesn't make it true", he teased and I glared at him before turning away. It was silent for a few minutes and I started to think he had fallen asleep, but then he spoke again.

"I was kidding, Lydia", he sighed, "I told you because I feel like I can trust you… I know you don't love me". I turned to look at him, trying to see if he was still teasing me. His eyes were wide and deadly serious and his mouth was set in a straight line.

"I don't know how anyone could", he continued and my heart started to ache, "I'm just surprised you've stuck around this long just being my friend", he laughed, "So thanks" he smiled sadly and then closed his eyes again.

My heart was practically water now and I wanted to hug him, kiss him and tell him how I felt about him… and I almost did. My mouth opened to start speaking but I quickly closed it again, my nerves getting the better of me.


	20. Chapter 20

I slept through the rest of the plane journey. I don't know how when I had Stiles sleeping next to me but somehow I managed it. It was 8:30am when we landed and it took 10 minutes to get off of the plane. Outside was sensationally hot, although I did regret wearing my jacket. It was just so cold back home compared to Hawaii. We all got our luggage back and by the time we found the taxis that Kira had ordered to take us to the hotel it was 9:50am.

"Each taxi can fit four in so I had to get two", Kira told us "Two of us will have to go separately"

"We'll go", Malia offered and Kira playfully rolled her eyes.

"Nobody trusts you to be alone in a taxi with Theo, Malia", Kira teased and Theo flushed red. To be honest, it was kind of true. It wouldn't surprise me if Malia actually did do something.

"Well nobody trusts you and Scott either", Malia pointed out defensively and I could tell that one of their famous, long disagreements was about to break out. I looked over to Scott, begging him to do something.

"Well I guess that leaves Stiles and Lydia", Scott placed his hand on Kira's shoulders and started to lead her towards one of the taxis. That wasn't what I had meant for him to do…

"Okay fine", Malia huffed, jumping into the taxi behind Scott and Kira and dragging Theo in behind her. Their door shut before I could argue.

"Come on", Stiles gently grabbed my thumb and pulled me to the other taxi. My skin broke out in Goosebumps and prickles at his touch and I let him pull me into the cab. The journey was silent but it wasn't awkward, it was kind of nice. I examined the view through the window and was taken aback by how beautiful it was.

The car soon drove through a town filled with tourist shops and restaurants and then turned a corner and started up a hill. I memorised the way we were going; I _had_ to come into this town and explore while I was here. A few minutes later, we arrived at a huge, sandy coloured building with bright red words printed on the front saying 'Restful Resort'. Not that creative of a font for the name but other than that, the place looked amazing. The other taxi had already gone so I guessed the othes were inside.

"Wow", I heard Stiles say beside me and I looked at him with wide, excited eyes and a huge grin. He laughed and we both climbed out of the taxi. I was already inside while he was paying the guy and the interior was just as nice as the outside.

"Lydia", Kira called from the desk, beckoning me over to her. I skipped to her, whatever fatigue I was feeling completely gone. She handed me a key to a hotel and I thanked her, but her face had a guilty expression.

"What did you do now?" I sighed. She didn't say anything, just pointed to the room key. I examined it. At the top there was fancy writing with the resorts name, underneath it was the room number and underneath that, the last name of the occupants.

"Kira, please tell me this is not my key!" I growled as I read the name 'Stilinski' printed where 'Martin' should have been.

"You could only have the name of one occupant there and they wanted the guys", she told me and my head started to thump.

"Kira I can't share a room with him!" I groaned and her face fell.

"Lydia, I know", she started walking with me towards the others. Stiles was now with them. "This place doesn't like people being alone in a room unless they absolutely _have_ to. Erica didn't come which means there are enough people for everyone to have a roomie" she shrugged, trying to convince me it was out of her hands.

"Kira that's a lie and you know it. You did this on purpose!" I scolded and I could tell she was trying not to smile.

"Okay fine", she admitted, "It wasn't just me, we all decided to do it", she beamed, "Nobody here thinks that Stiles and Erica are right for each other and _all of us_ think that you and Stiles _are_ ", she explained. I really wanted to tell her the truth about Erica, but I refrained.

"Well you didn't exactly think about how it would affect us though, did you?" I folded my arms.

"How what would affect who?" Stiles interrupted, stepping into our conversation. Kira couldn't meet his eyes and it was clear she was leaving it up to me to tell him.

"The guys put me and you in a room together", I told him, expecting an outburst like mine.

"Are you really surprised?" he laughed, grabbing the key out of my hand, "I got your case out of the boot" he gestured to it and then started to walk towards some elevator doors.

"Okay, everything's fine then", Kira grinned and then followed Stiles, linking her arm with Scott.

I rolled my eyes and then dragged my own case to the metal lift doors. I followed Stiles, going the opposite way to the others until we found our room. He keyed open the door and we both stepped inside. Everything was so neat and in perfect condition – it was amazing. It was quiet as we both started unpacking our things, pottering around the room and making it more homely – we were going to be here for two weeks, it made sense that it felt comfortable.

"Why weren't you surprised that we're sharing a room?" I asked casually, breaking the silence.

"Because everyone else is in a relationship and we're the only ones left. It just makes sense", he answered, spinning a cup that sat on a wooden counter in the corner of the room.

"I guess I didn't really think about it", I replied.

"Is it a problem?" Stiles stopped unpacking and turned to face me, "Cause I can change rooms if it bothers you" he started to gather a few of his things up again and I could see his muscles tensing under his shirt… maybe sharing a room with him wouldn't be such a bad thing after all.

"No, no I'm fine", I laughed, "You're fine here, I don't mind. Like you said, I'm your friend, right?" I swallowed hard, praying it didn't sound like I was putting him in the friend zone – I had already extinguished my chances of getting with him to a tiny flame, I didn't need to throw any water on it.

"Yeah", he smiled softly at me and started to walk towards me until we were inches apart. He looked down at my lips and my pulse rate thumped loudly; he was going to kiss me. His arms wrapped around my back and he pulled me into a… hug.

"I don't want to lose you as a friend, Lydia", he mumbled quietly, "Never". On one hand, I was thrilled that he liked me enough to want to stay my friend. On the other hand, he was basically putting _me_ in the friend zone.

"Neither do I", I whispered, letting his arms squeeze me gently and then release again.

Stiles pulled away from our hug and went back to his unpacking like nothing had happened. I was left confused and disorientated, stumbling around and losing track of where I was putting my things. If a hug left me like this, I suppose it was for the best that we would never get to kiss.


	21. Chapter 21

"I know I said that I don't want to ruin our friendship", Stiles whispered in my ear as he pulled me close against him, "But I just can't stop thinking about _us_ ". His face leant in close to me and our lips were centimetres apart, about to touch. "Lydia", he called out, slightly louder than necessary. I furrowed my eyebrows at him. "Lydia", he called again.

My eyes snapped open and it took me a second to realise where I was. The sun was beating down against my face and I remembered going down to the pool to sunbathe with everyone. Of _course_ I had been dreaming. I sat forward, noticing Kira standing above the chair I was asleep in.

"You're awake", she grinned as I rubbed the peaceful sleep out of my eyes.

"Thanks to you", I smiled at her, playful fake annoyance in my tone.

"Come swimming with me", she gestured to the giant pool behind her and my body suddenly felt scorching hot in the beating sun. I desperately needed to cool down and the water was incredibly inviting right now.

"Coming", I stood off the chair and stretched my arms out. I hadn't felt this relaxed in months, not even before the school semester had even started.

I followed Kira towards the pool, taking in the wonderful surroundings as I passed them. I quickly scanned across the pool bar but stopped as I got to a familiar brown haired boy with the few adorable moles scattered along his cheek and the dreamy whiskey eyes. He practically had his arm around some bikini babe and she was twirling her hair around her finger, giggling like crazy.

I scoffed as I slid into the pool after Kira. Maybe he wasn't actually with Erica but he technically was still a taken guy if everyone thought he was. And of course my own jealously was the top reason for my anger towards the girl I hadn't even met.

"Why the sour face?" Kira asked as we swam laps side by side. I rolled my eyes dramatically and we both grabbed onto the side to stop ourselves.

"Stiles flirting with every girl that breathes while he has _Erica_ back home", I ranted, pointing over towards the direction of the bar.

"Oh that's right, you were asleep", Kira exclaimed as if some big idea had just popped into her head.

"What are you talking about?" I asked slowly.

"Erica broke it off with Stiles. She rang him while we were all at the bar and said she was starting something with Boyd", Kira raised her eyebrows sadly, "We all told him that this was going to happen, but did he listen?"

"I guess not", I shrugged. I hated lying to her like this – seeing her feel so bad for Stiles when it was his plan to have this happen the whole time. "I'm gonna go and get a drink", I told her as I pushed myself onto the side and out of the water.

I felt incredibly self-conscious in the bikini Kira had made me buy but I really had nothing else to wear. When you're asleep it's not that bad but when you're walking past hundreds of men and heading towards your crush, it kind of makes you feel a little bit shy.

Stiles looked at me as I approached the bar and gave me his signature, two-finger and a thumb wave. The bikini babe glared at me for a few seconds before turning back to him. His hand touched her shoulder as he told her something and then he moved past her and leant across the bar next to me.

"You're done with Erica then", I clicked my tongue awkwardly and he nodded. His hair wasn't gelled like normal and the way it sat naturally across his face made him look so much more innocent. It was incredibly cute and I couldn't understand how Erica could 'date' him, hug him, kiss him and still be able to be with someone else. Personal preference, I guess.

"Sorry I cock blocked you", I nudged him arm playfully and he laughed.

"You can repay me later, its fine", he grinned and my cheeks flushed red.

"I'm not sure I like the sound of that one, Mr Stilinski", I teased, trying to sound casual and he laughed again.

"That came out completely wrong", he let his head fall into his hands for a second as he chuckled and I giggled. His eyes soon found mine, a small smile tracing his lips and my heart felt like it was about to explode. We stood quietly for a while, just looking at each other but it felt as if a thousand words were being said just with our eyes. I thought feelings like those only exist in books and movies but I was seriously wrong.

"Oh, I've been meaning to tell you something", Stiles started and my eyes widened expectantly as I waited for what he was about to say.

"Stiles!" we heard Scott's voice call out. We simultaneously turned around to see Scott sat at the top of a water slide in the far end of the pool. Scott beckoned Stiles over and he sighed. He actually sighed. He rolled his eyes and shot me an apologetic look.

"It's okay, you can tell me later", I waved it off like it was nothing but inside I was slapping Scott – I really wanted to know what he was going to say.

"Okay, will do", he beamed, picking up his drink from the counter and downing it.

"Stiles come on!" Scott called and we both turned to him again. A line of impatient people started to build behind him and we both laughed.

"Cya in a bit", Stiles smiled, leaning towards me. I waited for a hug as his hand wrapped around my shoulder but instead, his lips rapidly pressed against mine for not even a second and then he was jogging off towards Scott. I was frozen in place, completely stunned. It hadn't lasted for long, no more than a second at most but I was still speechless and my legs felt like jelly.

My breathing deepened as I watched him manoeuvre past the people and climb the ladder to join Scott at the top of the water slide. I watched Scott release his grip on the side of the slide, starting them down it and I watched Stiles' smile fall as he realized what he'd done before they hit the water.


	22. Chapter 22

I avoided Stiles completely, not wanting to have to face the fact that the kiss was a mistake. Even though I already knew that is was, I just didn't want to have to admit it yet. By 5:00pm, I found myself in my hotel room just lying on my bed and staring at the ceiling. It wasn't fair that he made me feel this way while on holiday, even if he hadn't meant to.

Eventually, the door opened and a figure stepped into the room. I knew eventually he would find me in here; this was his room too. He walked over to my bed and sat on the edge. I pushed myself so that I was sitting up and leant my back against the cold wall.

"Thought I would find you in here", he smiled, "I was looking for you, are you okay?" he sounded slightly concerned.

"Yeah I just got a little light headed. I thought it was probably the heat so I came inside for a while", I made it up as I went along and it scared me at how good I was getting at lying about these things.

"Okay. Are you alright now?" he looked into my eyes and I wished that I could see into his mind. To understand what he was thinking and to know how he felt about the kiss.

I nodded, not knowing the answer to his question. "What did you want to tell me?" I changed the subject and he shuffled next to me until his back was pressed onto the wall as well.

"Oh, right", he sounded as if he had forgotten all about it, "Coach emailed the team, including me and Scott obviously, about a game coming up", he explained, "We're playing against Devonford Prep the Friday after we go back to school", he sounded buzzed and I could tell he was excited.

"Oh cool, I bet that's nice for you guys", I replied, trying to sound enthusiastic about it because I knew that he was.

"Because I don't have my fake girlfriend anymore, I don't have anyone to cheer me on", he stated and I laughed slightly. "I was wondering if you would miss whatever amazing Friday plans you have and come to the game instead", he smiled, looking deeply into my eyes.

"You mean, replace Erica?" I blinked rapidly and swallowed hard, begging myself to keep calm and collected.

"Well in a way I guess. You don't have to be my fake girlfriend of anything if that's what you're worried about", he laughed. "So, will you come?"

"Sure", I agreed and his face lit up. He jumped up off the bed and headed towards the door again.

"The entertainments starting outside and Scott's saving us all a table so I'm gonna head down, you coming?" he leant his arm against the wall, waiting for my answer.

"I'll meet you guys down there. I have to get changed first", I laughed nervously and gestured to the bikini I was still wearing.

"Okay", he chortled and turned to leave again. I noticed him stop and hover above the handle as I stood up and he was soon facing me again.

"Hey, Lydia", he started. "About that thing I did earlier…" he paused, drumming his fingers awkwardly on his legs, "I'm really sorry"

"It's okay… totally fine", I forced a smile and he seemed to relax slightly.

"It was honestly a mistake, I wasn't thinking", he continued to try and explain himself, "I don't want you thinking that I just sleep with every girl I see", he shook his head, "Especially you. I meant what I said about keeping this friendship and I wasn't trying to… I promise it won't happen again"

I forced myself to keep smiling but I could feel my eyes getting wetter. "It's fine Stiles, I figured that it was an accident anyway", I shrugged.

"You did? Thank god", he breathed out a relieved sigh and grabbed hold of the door handle, "I'll see you downstairs", he gave me his wave but this time it didn't make me feel warm and happy, like it normally did.

"Yeah", I sucked in a sharp breath.

I continued to force a smile until he was out of the room, knowing he would turn around again before he left… and he did. But as soon as the door shut, my face melted and tears dripped down my cheeks. I shakily released the sucked in breath.

"You're stronger than this", I told myself "You're not the type of girl that gets broken up over a boy, Lydia", I wiped my tears away but it didn't hurt any less.

I changed into a pair of shorts and a tank top, wrapping a thin cardigan around my shoulders just in case it was a bit cold and then I headed out of the room. I looked around for everyone else, scanning over the crowds of people that were watching some dance act.

"Lydia", Malia shouted, waving me over to her direction. I couldn't see anyone else; they were all behind a concrete pole that held up a balcony for something. I darted through the linings of tables until I reached her.

The only seat left was in between Scott and Stiles. I forced another smile as Stiles patted the seat and winked at me and I ignored Kira's raised eyebrows and Malia's teasing snigger. I slumped down into the chair, pretending everything was normal.

The act was supposedly two hours long. It was about an hour through it and I was super restless. Everyone else seemed really absorbed into it but I just wanted to go to bed. Maybe it was because it was the first day and I hadn't slept at all, maybe it was because of being upset by what Stiles had said.

"Anyone want a drink?" I offered as I stood up from the table. Literally all of them called some kind of alcoholic drink out to me and I internally made a note never to ask again.

"I'll help", Stiles laughed, noticing my deflated expression. He stood up and we both walked towards the bar. I called out the couple of the drinks I could remember to the bar tender and Stiles filled in the ones I had missed.

"Something's wrong", Stiles noted as we waited for the drinks to be made.

"Nothing's wrong", I shrugged, putting on my best fake smile. He opened his mouth to continue but was distracted by multiple glasses of alcohol being slid over the counter to us. He glanced at me one more time with a worried glint in his eye and then we both grabbed a handful of glasses and carried them over to the table.


	23. Chapter 23

_Just want to say thanks for the amazing reviews and I love hearing what you guys all think about it. Keep them coming! :D_

When the dance act was finished and some casual music started to play instead, I was much more relaxed and having a lot more fun. Maybe it was because of the two alcoholic drinks flooding my system.

We all chatted and laughed for a while. Suddenly Stiles pushed himself up from the chair he sat in and started walking forward.

"Let's go swimming", he suggested, heading straight for the pool. Not wanting a drowning Stiles on my hands, I ran after him and stopped him. I placed my hand on his chest to halt him from walking any further and then wrapped it around his arm and guided him back towards the table.

"I'm gonna take Stiles up to our room", I told the others as I picked up the hotel key that I had previously placed on the table, "I think he may have had a few too many drinks", I explained, rolling my eyes at them.

"I think that's putting it lightly", Kira beamed, leaning back in her chair with a pint glass in her small hands. Malia was too busy making out with Theo to even register that I had spoken and Scott was inside getting more drinks for him and Kira.

"I love all inclusive!" Kira squealed, twirling the wrist band we had been given to wear around her wrist. Of course she would; this meant that she could drink as much as she wanted and not have to worry about paying for it all.

"Me too", Stiles slurred behind me. I had almost completely forgotten that I was supposed to be taking him somewhere. This was probably a sign that I shouldn't drink anymore tonight.

"Bye guys", I called over in Theo and Malia's direction. Malia waved me off, continuing to suck on Theo's face the whole time.

I headed inside, dragging Stiles behind me. Getting to the room proved to be much more difficult than I thought it would have been. Especially when Stiles tried opening every single door to other rooms thinking it was ours. I also got into a five minute argument with some old angry woman when Stiles knocked into her as she passed.

Eventually, I made it to the room. I keyed into the door and opened it. Stiles stumbled in and made it only about five steps before he fell to his knees, emptying his entire stomach contents onto the floor and then falling back onto the wall when he was finished.

I tried not to gag as I closed the door and stepped over the vomit to get into the bathroom. Stiles muttered constant incoherent sentences as I found a spare towel and used it to mop the floor. I left the towel in the corner of the room, as far away from the beds we would be sleeping in as possible. Stiles stood up and I helped him over to his bed, making sure he fell onto it gently.

His face felt hot to touch so I disappeared into the bathroom again and searched for something to use. I found a flannel in a small drawer and ran the cold tap over it, twisting it after to release the water but leave it damp. Stiles lay with closed eyes when I returned to his bedside. I sat on the edge of the bed and flopped the flannel onto his forehead.

He flinched at the sudden cold sensation and his eyes opened again to see what was happening. Somehow, he looked incredibly adorable in his 'too-pissed-to-move' mode. He smiled up at me as I rubbed the dampened cloth along his face, attempting to cool him down as much as possible.

"Thanks", he said so quietly that I almost didn't hear him. His eyelids were heavy and I could tell it was taking everything he had to keep them open.

"You can repay me later, its fine", I smiled, copying his own words. He laughed as he caught on and his Adams apple bobbed as he swallowed.

"I should get to bed", I told him, removing the flannel from his forehead and placing it the table that sat next to his bed. I could move it in the morning. I was too tired right now. "Go to sleep", I instructed.

"Okay", he yawned, reaching his arms around my waist and pulling me onto the bed next to him. I squealed at the sudden unexpected movement and I felt him grin against the back of my shoulder, where his head rested.

"Stiles, what are you doing?" I laughed, trying to wriggle free but his grip around me just tightened the more I tried to get away.

"Going to sleep", he sighed sleepily against me and my whole body tensed at the fact that I was not only lying in bed with him, but he also had his arms wrapped around me. This was everything I had dreamed of… but just not in the way I had dreamed it.

"Stiles I need to go to bed", I giggled, trying to move his arms off of me. I would have been up for lying there all night but I knew that he was drunk and not in the right frame of mind. I didn't want to wake up and have everything ruined in the morning when he found me lying in his bed.

"You are in bed", he stated smugly and I could tell just by the sound of his voice that he was also smirking.

"I meant _my_ bed", I slapped his arm in punishment for being a smart ass. He pulled me closer to him and rested his chin on the top of my shoulder. I could hear his soft breathing in my ear, making me tense more with every breath he took.

"Why? My beds so comfy", he whispered and I couldn't help but smile.

"You are so drunk", I felt my smile widen against my will.

"Uh-huh", he agreed, saying nothing else. He reached one of his arms down, grabbing hold of the blanket that had somehow slid down to knee level and he pulled it over us both, then returning to his original position around me.

"Stiles, you're gonna regret this in the morning. You're not in your right mind", I sighed, still smiling slightly. I just couldn't handle the fact that he had his arms around me in his bed… even if he was doing it while drunk.

"I may be not in my right mind", he murmured quietly, his voice deep and husky in my ear, "But I won't regret this"

Soon after those words, I felt his arm loosen around me as he fell asleep. I couldn't have moved into my own bed but I didn't – I had no interest in sleeping in my bed anymore. Not when I had this option instead. I was also now curious to see how he reacted when he sobered up and found me here.


	24. Chapter 24

My whole body was warm when I woke up in the morning and it took me a few seconds to figure out why. Stiles still lay asleep, his arms wrapped tight around me and his breath hot and even against the back of my neck. I wanted to stay like that forever.

Just as I closed my eyes again, I felt him stir next to me. I pretended to be asleep to see what he would do – which was difficult with my eyes closed. I felt his arms move away from me and his body tensed as he stretched them.

"Lydia", he gently shook my arm and I had to force myself not to smile as I waited a couple more arm shakes. I blinked my eyes a couple of times to make it look as if I were asleep the whole time. He smiled down at me and I melted.

"Hi", I whispered, turning pink in embarrassment when my voice came out hoarse and dry. He just smiled wider as he sat up and then he rubbed his eyes sleepily.

"We better get up, Scott told us all to meet in the restaurant for breakfast at 8:30 to avoid the crowd", he pushed himself to his feet and walked over to his clothes. Did he remember what had happened last night?

"What time is it?" I asked, looking around for a clock of some sort. Stiles picked up his phone. "8:00", he replied and then went back to choosing an outfit.

"Okay", I stretched my arms above me, enjoying the fact Stiles wasn't freaking out over waking up next to me.

"Hey, Lydia", Stiles paused what he was doing and turned to look at me, a slight trace of nervousness on his face. Oh great, here we go.

"Yes?" I swallowed and looked back at him to try and read his expression. I was looking for regret – exactly what I told him that he would be feeling.

"What happened last night?" he finally said, "I mean, did we…" he didn't finish the sentence, trailing off into silence.

"No", I said quickly, "You were drunk and you pulled me into bed with you. We just went to sleep", I told him honestly.

"Thank god", he breathed out and my heart cracked with hurt.

"I'm not that bad", I muttered angrily, storming past him and grabbing a pair of shorts and the first t-shirt I saw. I could see him in the corner of my eyes, turning to see if I was genuinely mad or if I was just teasing him.

"Lydia…" he tried to get me to look at him but I hurried into the bathroom and closed the door before he could speak. I wanted him to know that I was mad at him but I didn't want to talk about it right now… I wouldn't know what to say without outing my feelings.

I got dressed and put on a little bit of make-up before heading back out of the bathroom. Stiles was sitting on his bed, staring at the floor. He rapidly turned to me as I re-entered the room and I was careful not to look him in the face for more than a second at a time, scared I would forgive him and go on as normal. He opened his mouth to speak but I interrupted.

"Are we going?" I questioned bluntly, stepping into some flip-flops and then walking over to the door and opening it.

"Yeah…" Stiles tapped his fingers on his jeans – something I noticed he does when he feels awkward.

We silently walked to the restaurant on the bottom floor, tension in the air making me feel clammy and sweaty. Not because of the hot air. Everyone else was already sat down at a table inside and I knew straight away they could tell something was wrong between Stiles and I. They didn't say anything though; they were probably used to it by now.

The breakfast was incredibly awkward and I couldn't wait until it was over. Afterwards, we all headed outside to hang around the pool, just relaxing. I avoided Stiles, still angry with him and at first he avoided me too. A while later, he tried acting normal around me but I was still blunt with him and eventually, he was trying really hard to get me to act normal with him again. He invited me to slide with him, which I declined. He offered to get me drinks, which I declined. He made a huge effort to try to get me to reply to him with more than one word, but I managed.

It was probably a little harsh to cut him off like this and I felt bad every time I saw his deflated look as he walked away from me but I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't handle the way he would do something to get my hopes up and then ruin it all, making me want to give up on boys forever. I wouldn't ignore him for long but I needed a little bit of time to get over him. To try and make it so that his hugs didn't crush me and his words didn't hurt me.

I headed alone to a small quiet area with a smaller pool that barely anybody knew about because the signs were so hidden. There was only one other person there: a guy sitting on the edge of the pool with a book in his hands.

"Hey", he beamed at me as I dipped my legs into the water. He had a Spanish accent.

"Hey", I smiled back. I examined him quickly. He was quite cute, not Stiles cute and definitely not Stiles hot but he was still super cute.

"Where you from?" he continued to smile. I could tell he wasn't very fluent with this language.

"California", I told him, moving my legs in the water.

"Ah – California beach babe, eh?" he grinned cheekily and I laughed.

"Not quite", I giggled, "Not nearly as attractive as the beach babes", I laughed awkwardly.

"Ci, you're attractive. Very", he furrowed his eyebrows as if he was confused by my answer.

"Thank you", I smiled warmly, "What's your name?"

"Alejandro. Alejandro Martel", he stated, "And you?"

"Lydia Martin", I decided I liked this kid.

"Ah, similar to me", he grinned wildly, "Martel, Martin", he explained in case I didn't understand what he meant.

"Yeah", I laughed. We chatted for a while, getting to know each other before I decided it was time to go back to the others in case they got worried about me.

"I have to go and find my friends. I'll see you around", I stood up from the pool edge.

"See you around, pelo de fugo", he waved as I headed out of the private section. I thought hard back to the Spanish classes I took in school, trying to figure out what he had just called me. It translated to 'Fire hair'.


	25. Chapter 25

"How hot was he?" Kira scrunched her nose up in excitement as I told her about my encounter with Alejandro. I had already told her the whole story but we were alone. Now the others were around and she forced me to tell them too.

"He was super cute", I smiled thinking back to how nice he was to me, "And yes, he was quite hot too", I added and we both giggled.

"Finish the story, I want the details!" Malia sat forwards on the wooden deckchair, impatience in her tone.

"Not much really happened, don't get your hopes up", I grinned and she turned her hand in circles, hurrying me.

"Basically, we talked and got to know each other for a while and then I said I had to leave", I shrugged and Malia's face dropped.

"Kira, why exactly did you beg for her to tell us this?" she muttered, clearly disappointed with the lack of action.

"Because it's cute!" Kira pulled a face and Scott beamed, rolling his eyes playfully at me. "Tell them what he called you!" Kira demanded, wanting everyone else to agree with her opinion.

"Pelo de fugo", I furrowed my eyebrows, not understanding why Kira was so excited about all of this. Everyone stared at me with blank expressions; nobody understood Spanish here and so they were just words to them.

"It means fire hair!" Kira squealed and I winced. Nobody else was nearly as excited as she was and she was actually kind of freaking me out.

"Sound _really_ romantic", Stiles said sarcastically and I turned to face him, a bitter expression on my face.

"Actually it was", I told him, folding my arms. It hadn't been romantic in the slightest but Stiles didn't need to know that.

"Great. You have yourself a Spanish kid that you will most likely never see again, well done", he clapped his hands mockingly and then waltzed away, muttering something about being thirsty.

"What the hell is his problem?" I grumbled, turning to face the others again. I raised my eyebrows at the wide eyes stares and grins coming from everyone, even Kira. "What?" I asked slowly.

"What do you mean what?" Kira beamed, "Stiles likes you! He's jealous!" she squealed even louder than she did when talking about Alejandro.

"Okay he does not" I held up my finger to silence her before continuing, knowing she would try and argue straight away. "And also, weren't you just obsessed with Alejandro liking me? Why the sudden change to Stiles?"

"I was never obsessed with Alejandro, it's called acting", Kira thumbed her hand to her forehead and made a 'duh' sound as if it were obvious.

"That was acting?" Malia's mouth dropped open slightly. At least I wasn't alone in thinking she was serious.

"I just wanted Stiles to think that we all loved him. _You_ almost blew it", Kira gestured to Malia with an irritated tone.

"Well I'm sorry that you're so hyperactive that I can't tell when it's fake or not", Malia placed her hands on her hips, getting ready for a disagreement.

"Guys!" Scott placed his hands on both of the girl's shoulders to try and calm them.

"Stiles has made it clear he doesn't like me as anything more than a friend", I shrugged, trying to change the subject and avoid the argument.

"Ugh, Lydia you're so infuriating sometimes!" Kira moaned and I shot her a scolding look. "Not wanting to ruin a friendship and not crushing on someone are two _very_ different things", she emphasized every single words as if it might slide over my head.

"How do you know that he doesn't want to ruin the friendship?" I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion and she blushed and looked at the ground.

"Kira, I told you not to do that!" Scott sighed and I was once again highly confused.

"Told her not to do what?" I squinted at her and she blushed harder.

"Kira wanted to listen through your hotel door before you came down to watch the entertainment to make sure you were both okay with sharing a room. I told her _not_ to because it was an invasion of privacy", Scott explained and Kira smiled apologetically at me.

"I may have heard you and Stiles talking about stuff", she swallowed hard and I shook my head in disbelief, a smile forming on my face. Kira had zero control of her nosiness and it was quite amusing at the best of times.

"You're pathetic", I snorted and she blinked rapidly.

"You're not mad?" she sounded surprised and I shook my head.

"Just don't do it again, please!" I teasingly pinched her arm and she beamed.

"I don't want to anymore. I'm scared of what I might hear", she winked and now it was my turn to blush.

"Kira!" I groaned and she giggled. "You're wrong by the way. More has happened since than conversation and I have given up. I'm trying to get over him, hence Alejandro", I forced a smile to hide how upsetting those words really were to me.

"What happened?" Malia sat forward again, eager to get at least some details. Even if they weren't the type she originally wanted.

I explained about him being drunk and throwing up first, earning some repulsive noised from Malia and Kira and a snigger from Scott and Theo. I then went on to explain him pulling me into bed and not letting me leave, which changed the girls reactions from repulsed to happy.

"Go and talk to him", Kira instructed me after I finished the story and told them how happy he was when he knew he hadn't slept together.

"Are you kidding me?" I breathed out, "No!"

"Lydia, he already said he doesn't want to ruin your friendship and sleeping together while drunk may be a thing to do that", Malia rolled her eyes and Kira nodded, agreeing with her.

"I'm not gonna talk to him. What would I even say", I tried to form a conversation in my mind but all I got was blanks.

"You better figure it out", Kira winked and I frowned at her, opening my mouth to ask what she meant. "Stiles!" Kira shouted before I could get a word out. I turned around quickly to see him now facing us.

"Kira don't!" I begged and she faced Malia, giving her a knowing look.

"Lydia wants to talk to you!" Malia shouted out and I wanted to slap them both.

"Hey!" I scolded and they both shrugged simultaneously.

"You told Kira not to do it, you didn't tell me", Malia said, proud of her smartness.

"What is it?" A husky voice called behind me, making my whole body jolt in fear. I turned to face him and swallowed hard.

"Come with me", I murmured, turning around to shoot the girls one last angry look before leading Stiles as far away from their ears as possible.

"So you're talking to me now?" He raised his eyebrows and leant against the wall.

"I'm sorry I've been avoiding you", I breathed in a shaky, nervous breath as I tried to find the right words to begin.

"Is it about what I said this morning?" his eyebrows lowered to a frown as I nodded and he rubbed his face.

"It's really hurt", I told him truthfully, "Having someone that pleased that they didn't sleep with you… it kinda makes you feel like you're bad or ugly or _something,_ " I huffed.

"Look, Lydia", he pushed himself off the wall to stand closer to me, "I wasn't thankful because I think you're bad. It's just that I don't remember anything from last night and...", he shook his head as if he couldn't believe I had even thought that.

"And what? What does that mean?" I cut in, my eyes starting to become wetter. He didn't answer and he even stepped away from me.

"Please just answer me because I'm so confused!" I started to shout. "One minute I think you like me and then the next I think you don't", I sighed and shrugged my shoulders, not knowing where I was going with this. "Stiles, what do you want from me?" I yelled to his silence.

His eyes flicked up and met mine. There was a sudden fire in them that I hadn't seen before. "What do I want from you?" he repeated my question, "You wanna know?"

"Yes", I answered, feeling small and helpless as tears rolled down my cheeks.

"This", he whispered, taking a giant stride and pulling me against him in one swift movement. Our lips crashed together, his hands tangled in my hair and my arms wrapped around him, soaking in every part of him. Our lips were a mess of frenzied kisses as we released built up tension.

The last kiss lasted longer and was gentle and passionate, leaving me drunk and dizzy. We both were out of breath, panting and staring at each other. I couldn't believe that had just happened and I could tell he felt the same.


	26. Chapter 26

Stiles and I continued to stare at each other silently for ages, both of us still in a state of shock. Surprisingly, I was the one to break the eye contact by looking down at the floor. Me moving made him move too, like it had granted permission for him to do so.

"Well that was…" He started to speak, breaking the silence.

"Unexpected", I giggled nervously and he smiled at me.

"I was going to say _great_ but unexpected works too", he laughed and the corners of my mouth automatically turned up into a massive grin at his choice of wording, ' _Great'_.

"Yeah it was", I murmured softly. "We should head back to the others before they think something happened to us", I laughed and he nodded, a smile still on his face.

We walked next to each other slowly, not in any hurry to get back to the others. It was nice with it just being the two of us, alone.

"Pelo de fugo!" A friendly, chirpy voice called out from behind me. I knew exactly who it was – who else called me that name?

"Hey", I grinned happily as he threw his arms around me and hugged me.

As soon as we pulled away, I felt a hand wrap around mine and squeeze tightly. I turned to smile at Stiles but he was just staring at Alejandro with squinted eyes, holding onto my hand as if letting go meant I would drift away from him.

"And this is… you're brother?" Alejandro questioned, holding his hand to shake Stiles'. He must have remembered me telling him I was single and assumed that Stiles must be family.

"Actually", Stiles gripped hold of his hand and shook it slightly more forcefully than necessary, "I'm her _boyfriend_ ". My breath got caught in my chest and I almost passed out; he had called himself my boyfriend. I was his girlfriend!

"Oh", Alejandro stepped away from me slightly and blushed, "Apologies", he rubbed his hands together and walked away without saying another word.

"What a douche", Stiles grunted and I shot him a confused look.

"How was he a douche?" I laughed. As far as I had noticed he was a pretty nice guy.

"Well, the way he just left without saying another word when he found out you had a boyfriend made it a little clear", Stiles rolled his eyes and glared at the figure walking away from us.

"Or maybe you intimidated him", I smirked mockingly, loving how he was actually jealous of someone talking to me.

"I rest my case", Stiles gestured with his eyes behind me and I turned around. Alejandro was now stood with two girls in tiny bathing suits, obviously flirting majorly.

"That douche!" I huffed, unable to believe that I had actually liked that kid a few minutes ago.

"You're so cute", Stiles chuckled casually as he started to walk back towards the other guys again. My hand was still in his and I was again left speechless and giddy, yet all he had done was call me cute.

When we got to the others, Malia and Scott were both staring at Stiles and I open mouthed as they noticed our intertwined fingers. Theo, not really knowing us, didn't look phased and Kira was sunbathing on a chair and hadn't even noticed us coming.

"How did the _talk_ go", Malia raised her eyebrows and Kira shuffled slightly in her seat, making it clear she was listening but she didn't make any move to look at us yet.

"Pretty good", I couldn't keep the grin off my face and Scott was still stood with his mouth hanging open.

"How good is pretty good?" Kira called out from her chair. She didn't have a clue that Stiles was stood with me right now.

"Maybe you should open your eyes and see", Malia couldn't contain her smile as Kira sat up and removed her sunglasses.

Her eyes drifted in between me and Stiles a few times, trying to spot what Malia meant. Eventually, they fell down to our connected hands and she let out a huge, ear-splitting scream. The scream was filled with joy though and she was demonstrating exactly how I felt inside.

"Okay, before Kira blows our ears off", Stiles started with a hint of laughter in his tone, "Me and Lyd's are going swimming", he dragged me off towards the pool before anybody else could say anything.

"Wait", I stopped moving, making him stop too. He turned to face me, looking genuinely interested in what I was about to say, which made it hard to speak at all. "There's this pool, the one I met Alejandro at, it's more secluded", I explained.

"Oh", he replied and I realised what it sounded like.

"Oh my god, I just meant that it would be less crowded and more romantic… I wasn't saying…" I closed my eyes and let out an embarrassed sigh.

"It's okay Lydia, I know", he wrapped one of his arms around my waist and pulled me against him, "It sounds great"

"Get a room!" Scott, Malia and Kira all shouted at the same time. Stiles rolled his eyes and flipped them off while I giggled.

I took Stiles' hand and led him towards where I had found the private pool. When we got there, luckily it was completely empty. No sign of Alejandro or anybody else. Stiles jumped into the water immediately but I hung back, knowing the water was colder than the normal pool. I laughed as he made pained noises and jumped around, trying to get used to the temperature.

"You could have warned me!" he winced as he slowly lowered his body back into the water, getting used to it bit by bit.

"Where's the fun in that?" I beamed and he splashed me. Cold water sprayed on my bare legs and I squealed, earning a laugh from him.

"Now it's my turn to have fun", he smirked mischievously and pushed himself out of the pool.

"Don't you dare, Stilinski!" I yelled as he stepped towards me. His grin grew wider. I speed-walked away from him and he broke into a run.

"You're coming in", he told me and I dodged him. It was like being a child again as I ran around in circles to avoid being caught.

"Gottcha", he called out as he cut through the middle of the circular shape we were running in and lifted me off the ground in his arms. I wriggled, squealing and laughing as he neared the pool, waiting to be thrown in but he stopped by the edge and placed me back on my feet.

"God you fidget a lot", he panted and I smiled triumphantly.

"Good, you're not getting me in there", I retorted.

His hands found my cheeks and he planted his lips onto mine, passionately kissing me. My arms found their place around the back of his neck and he moved his to around my waist. Suddenly, he pulled away and his mischievous smile returned.

"No!" I begged as I realised I was trapped right next to the edge. He made a face as if he was thinking for a second and then he pushed himself against me so that I was falling backwards.

The cold didn't hit me straight away but when it did, I was mimicking the jumping movements and noises Stiles had made. We were soon used to the cold though, chasing after each other and splashing each other with water.


	27. Chapter 27

The holiday seemed to fly by in a flash. It seemed as if I had only just got there but the first week was over and it was the first day of the second. It was the first day of the last week of pleasure. After that it was back to school. Stiles and I were both getting ready for a dinner that he insisted on taking me to. A _date_.

"Does this dress look okay?" I smoothed it down as I stepped out of the bathroom into the room where Stiles was tying his tie. He looked at me in the reflection of the mirror and examined the rose red fabric.

"It looks great", he turned to face me with a soft smile on his lips "Not that it matters since you probably won't be wearing it for long anyway," he smirked as he stepped towards me. I knew he was only joking though.

"Keep talking like that, Stilinski and you'll never get there", I winked. He slid his arms around my back and pulled me close to his chest so that our faces were inches apart. Even now, it still gave me goose-bumps.

"We'll have to see", he grinned and then gave me a long, deep kiss. I started to move my arms to their usual place around the back of his neck but we were interrupted by a noise coming from his phone. It wasn't the sound of his usual text tone. He pulled away to look at in and sighed deeply, running his fingers through his hair stressfully.

"Are you okay?" I furrowed my eyebrows in concern as he clicked his phone off.

"My dad just got an email off the hospital", he explained and I was a little confused.

"You follow your dad's emails?" I asked with slightly raised eyebrows.

"Yeah. I logged into his email a couple of weeks ago after he got shot while doing a job", he explained, "We're struggling a little bit with money and I was worried about him, so I wanted to keep track of just _how much_ we're struggling", he pinched the bridge of his nose, "That last email just said final… he still hasn't paid the bills"

"Oh", was all I could get out and I felt really bad. I had no idea that he was having a hard time with money. "Maybe we should just stay here and eat in the restaurant downstairs. I mean, it's all inclusive so…"

"No, we're going out", he interrupted, "This doesn't change anything, Lydia, I can still buy you dinner", he tucked his phone into his pocket.

"Okay… if you're sure", I shrugged, not wanting to argue with him about it. He nodded and headed over to his wardrobe to find his jacket. I put on some red lipstick to go with my dress as I waited.

Stiles bought a taxi and took me into the town. He picked out a small, fancy looking diner in between the shops. Because of it being so hot in Hawaii, even at night, the tables were all outside and you couldn't even feel a breeze. It was lovely. The waiter handed us menus and he quickly came back to take our order. The service was great. The food was out and on our table within 10 minutes and tasted amazing. Stiles and I talked and laughed, having fun but even though he seemed to be in a good mood, I could still feel a tense vibe in the air around us.

"Thank you for eating with us. Give me a shout when you're ready to pay the bill", the waiter chirped brightly as he placed a plate with a receipt on it in the middle of us and then he headed towards the growing queue at the entrance of the diner to seat more people.

"Stiles, I can get this", I told him as he reached into his pocket for his wallet.

"No, I'll get it", he gave me a small smile and then searched through his card section for a certain one. I immediately noticed the lack of money, a thing I would never have noticed before the conversation in our hotel room.

"Really, I can get this one", I reached into my bag to try and find my purse.

"Jesus Christ Lydia, I'm buying the freaking meal!" Stiles called out angrily, thumping a balled up fist onto the table. I was taken aback by the sudden aggressiveness, my eyes wide as I stared at him.

He started to blink rapidly and I noticed him swallow hard. "I'm gonna… go and pay", he murmured quietly and then stood up, heading towards a guy stood behind a counter inside. I was still speechless from his outburst and I didn't say anything in return.

There was an awkward silence the whole taxi ride back to the hotel and an even worse one when we found our key didn't work and realised we would have to go all the way back to the reception to ask for a new one.

"I'll go", I offered, holding my hand out for our old key.

"No it's fine, I'll go", he replied and I just nodded, not wanting him to have another angry outburst. He must have noticed, since his face fell for a second and he opened his mouth to speak. He didn't say anything though. He just turned and walked down towards the reception.

When he came back, we continued not to say anything to each other. I wasn't mad at him, I just didn't know what to say and truthfully, he had scared me in the diner. After we both got changed, he climbed into his bed and I had no idea what to do; I had started sleeping in his bed with him every night, but was I supposed to sleep in mine tonight or what? I didn't really mind sleeping in with him but the continuous silence made me feel that I was supposed to do otherwise.

"Lydia", Stiles broke my thought and I snapped my eyes to his face. "I'm really sorry I snapped like that earlier", he sighed, his face filled with regret.

"It's okay" I smiled but his expression didn't change.

"No, it's not", he stood up and grabbed my hand, "Lydia, I don't want to upset you… ever"

"You didn't ups-"

"Yes I did", he cut in, caressing one of my cheeks with his hand and moving his other onto the dip in my waist. "It'll never happen again, I swear"

"It's okay, I promise", I leant my face into his hand.

"I love you, Lydia Martin" he told me, seriously, "And I hope you never forget that"

I tried to swallow down the lump forming in my throat but my eyes filled with tears anyway. "I love you too", I breathed out, throwing myself into his kiss. This kiss felt different from any of our others, deeper and more passionate. His fingers slid underneath my pyjama shirt and soon, a mass of clothes were strewn all over the room and I ended up in his bed afterall.


	28. Chapter 28

Stiles started to become weird about money. No matter how much I tried to convince him against it, he would almost make it like his job to try and buy me any small knick-knack that I even slightly liked. When I said no, he would get quiet and leave me wondering if I had annoyed him or put him in a mood for ages. It had been like that for four days. Today was the day before our last and I was so nervous to go to the town with everyone. I didn't want Stiles to whittle away the small amount of cash he had. I don't know if I was thankful I had found out, considering it put me on edge and I was constantly worrying for him but it meant I could try to help him be careful.

"You okay? You seem… weird", Malia shrugged as we examined perfume bottles sitting on a shelf. She must have noticed my constant looking out to make sure Stiles didn't see me with the _expensive_ perfume.

"Yeah, just a little on edge", I sighed, placing the bottle I was holding back down and drifting aimlessly. Malia followed.

"You're looking around like a lost puppy", she grinned "Missing Stiles already?" she teased.

"Not exactly", I laughed and she frowned.

"That's not something a new couple should be saying. You should miss each other all the time", she placed her hand on my shoulder to stop me walking, "Tell me what's going on"

I explained about his dad's money problems and how he got agitated when I wanted to pay the bill, of course quickly mentioning how he apologised _really_ nicely…

"But ever since then he's just been... weird about it all. He tries to buy unnecessary things and…" I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair, "I don't know, he's just worrying me a little is all"

"Maybe he just doesn't want to accept that he's struggling", Malia suggested and I just shrugged and shook my head cluelessly.

"Hey guys", Kira beamed happily, her arms filled with bags of clothes "Scott bought me tons of new clothes from a little place a few doors down – the stuff is so nice in there"

Scott, Stiles and Theo all came in behind her and I noticed Scott sliding his card into his wallet, showing that he had only just used it. I smiled at Stiles and he returned it, but I could tell it was forced. I could see his eyes following Scott's wallet as he fitted it into his pocket and then he shuffled nervously on his feet, deep in thought.

"Are we going back now?" Theo interrupted our thoughts, "My feet are killing"

Everyone hummed in agreeance and we all started walking towards the road to find a taxi. It was as if Stiles was trying to distance himself from me as much as he could. He stood in front of the two couples and I was stood behind. Kira waved us a couple of taxis and her and Scott clambered into the first one. I noticed Stiles' eyebrows furrow as he watched Malia and Theo clamber in after them, leaving us for the other one. I didn't understand why he looked so funny about it, we had done it like this every single time we all went into town, and so it worried me.

"Are you okay?" I murmured to him after a few minutes of silence in the back of the cab. He bit his lip as he turned to look at me.

"Lydia… we need to talk", he had a look on his face I hadn't seen before. My heart started to pound and my breathing thickened from the anxious anticipation of what he needed to talk to me about. Had I done something? Crap Lydia, what did you do?

"What about?" I tried to make it sound as if I wasn't scared of the answer but my wavering voice would have most likely given it away.

"Let's talk back at the hotel, okay?" he asked but used a 'not-open-for-discussion' tone of voice. "When we aren't in the back of a taxi", he added.

The rest of the journey back was horrible. It was like getting a 'we need to talk' text and having the person not text again for hours, leaving you wondering what the possible problem could be. When we reached the hotel, the others were already inside, a small habit they seemed to have, and this time I was thankful for it. As soon as our taxi drove away, I opened my mouth to ask about what was wrong.

"Not here", he jumped in before I could speak, "The room… where it's more private". His face was written with sadness and it made me want to pass out.

I followed him up to our room and watched him pace around for a while, no sentences forming yet. I had a bad feeling I knew what was about to come and I was dreading it.

"You're breaking up with me, aren't you?" I breathed out, a hole already starting to stab through my heart.

"Lydia, I love you", he stopped pacing and stood in front of me. I looked into his eyes and noticed the shiny, wet film forming over them.

"Oh my god, you are", I backed away from him and he took a sharp intake of breath, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't find the right words. "Why?" I could feel myself welling up inside and it was like I was about to have a panic attack.

"I'm not good enough for you", he whispered sadly and I wanted to laugh spitefully in his face.

"Don't give me that crap Stilinski, you're the best thing that has ever happened to me!" I choked on my tears and I watched one roll down his own face.

"You deserve so much better than me", he took another step towards me, filling the gap I had created, "You deserve someone to treat you like a princess, buy you presents like Scott does to Kira and take you on surprise dinners all the time… buy you flowers!" he reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out his phone, typing in the code and bringing something up on the screen. "Not someone who's gonna lose their house soon", he wiped his tears with his spare hand whilst holding up an email about late house bills and an eviction notice.

"I don't care about money!" I pushed his phone down and placed my hand on his chest, "I care about being happy… and I _am_ with you!"

"Lydia, I can't be responsible for you not having a good life", he argued, "When you get married, you want a house and money don't you?" he intertwined his fingers with mine and gently removed my hand from his chest. I stayed silent as I tried to think of something to say but my mind was blank. I had no defence.

"Don't argue, I'm not changing my mind", he walked away from me and started to gather his stuff into his suitcases, "I'll book another room for tonight"

"Stiles, no!" I sobbed, pulling things back out of his case and trying to stop him from leaving. He grabbed hold of my wrists and looked into my eyes.

"Lydia, don't make this harder than it already is", he was practically begging and I knew he wasn't changing his mind. He was leaving me.

"Don't change rooms", I tried to control myself but it only made me cry harder, "I'll sleep in my bed and I won't even talk, I promise"

"I can't", he shook his head, his voice cracking as he said 'can't'.

"Stiles, I won't do or say anything. I swear"

"It's not you it's me", he cut in, starting to gather to rest of his things, "I can't stay in the room because it will be too hard… for _me_ "

I couldn't think of anything else to say. All I could do was cry as he zipped up his final case and dragged it towards the door. I pleaded him with my eyes one more time as he looked back but he didn't stay. He wiped his face with his hands and then left the room. I was crushed.


	29. Chapter 29

The room felt cold and empty and I didn't sleep a wink. My mind kept drifting to what Stiles could be doing. Was he sleeping? Was he missing me like I was missing him? These thoughts kept buzzing around in my brain as my tears soaked into the pillow underneath my head.

As the sun started to shine through the window, a knock on the door made me shoot onto my feet in the hopes it was Stiles changing his mind. I yanked it open, my eyes wide and my heart thumping. Instead of Stiles, I found Kira and Malia waiting for me.

"Lydia…" Kira sounded really upset as she threw her arms around me. I looked at Malia from over Kira's shoulder. She smiled sadly at me. "Stiles came to see Scott this morning, I heard everything!" Kira explained.

"And then she told me", Malia added, "I'm really sorry, Lydia. If it makes you feel any better, he seems really broken up about it"

"But not broken enough not to do it", I croaked, fresh warm tears springing to my eyes as I thought about Stiles.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Kira rubbed my back, "We have until lunch time and then we have to be at the airport, but we can talk about it until then?"

"No", I wiped my tears with the back of my hand, "I want to get really, _really_ drunk" I stated and they both widened their eyes in surprise.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Kira furrowed her eyebrows in a concerned manner, looking to Malia for back up.

"If that's Lydia's way of dealing with it, we should let her", Malia shrugged and Kira sighed – that hadn't been the response she had been looking for.

I got dressed in the shortest shorts I could find and the tightest top. It was a white tank top with shoulder length sleeves that came to just above my belly button. I then applied some careful make-up and walked to go get a taxi into town. Kira and Malia shuffled behind, trying to keep up with me.

"Lydia, I really don't think this is a good idea", Kira whispered to me in the back of the car, "You're hurting right now and that can make you do stupid things"

I didn't answer her but glanced in her direction to tell her that I had been listening. Maybe she was right, but I honestly didn't care. Today I felt like doing every reckless, careless thing I could possibly do. I wanted an adrenaline rush to try and stop the sad, hollow feeling in my heart.

I paced the streets until I found the most crowded bar and I waltzed in with my head held high, pretending I didn't have a care in the world, but I did. I had a brown haired, whiskey eyed care. I examined the inside of the pub and the girls stood either side of me. I soon found the bar, ordering three shots and then drinking them all myself when the other two refused them. I then ordered three more, not even bothering to offer them this time.

A huge bald guy stepped in front of us with his muscle bag mates is tow. He gave us all a big goofy smile, revealing gold teeth littered around in his mouth.

"Any of you ladies want to dance?" he offered his arm out to Kira and her face showed show that she was revolted but she tried to hide it with a smile.

"I have a boyfriend", she muttered and the baldly stuck out his bottom lip.

"What about you two?" one of his friends, the best looking out of the three (but not much), piped in.

"I have a boyfriend too", Malia didn't even bother to hide her disgust as she rolled her eyes. I stayed quiet, trying to decide what to do.

"And you, sweet stuff? You got a boyfriend too?" the friend now turned to face me. I could smell the heavy alcohol on his breath.

"She just-" Kira started.

"Nope", I cut in bitterly and his face lit up. I took his outstretched hand and he started to take me to the dance floor.

"Lydia!" Kira grabbed my wrist and shook her head when I turned to face her, "Don't", she mouthed, still trying to be as polite as she could towards these strangers.

I pulled my wrist away and followed the muscle bag to the middle of the sticky, carpeted flooring. He danced with me but it wasn't enough. I still thought about Stiles every second of it. I tried to spice things up by dancing close to him and I could tell he was more than happy to oblige.

"You wanna see my bike?" he asked and I only just picked up a hint of a Texas accent.

I looked around for the girls but they were nowhere to be seen. "You have a bike?" I raised my eyebrows, faking being impressed and he grinned.

"It's just outside. I'll show you", he grabbed my hand again to lead me outside. As his fingers intertwined with mine, I immediately thought of how it felt when Stiles held my hand. How I missed being with him, walking with him, talking to him. How I missed kissing him. By the time we got outside and found his motor cycle, I had a huge lump in my throat.

"Want me to drive you around?" he offered, picking up his helmet and passing in my direction. I got my phone out of my pocket to check the time.

"I can't. I have half an hour before I have to be on a plane and I haven't even packed my cases yet", I shook my head and sighed. "Thanks for the dance", I gave him a small wave and turned around to leave.

"Hey!" he grabbed hold of my arm, stopping me and turned me to look at him, "Where's my goodbye kiss?" he grinned wildly.

"Let go", I demanded, trying to free my arm from his grasp. He was obviously really drunk.

"I know you like me", he pulled me close to him "Just come here!" he tried to lean it for a kiss, his beard grating along my cheek as I struggled to get away. My heart rapidly sped up as panic set in.

"Get off her!" a voice called out. I looked over my shoulder to see Stiles racing towards us. Kira, Malia, Scott and Theo were all there too but they hung back to let Stiles do the work.

The drunk backed away from me but he didn't release my arm. Stiles balled up his fist and cracked him straight in the nose. Stunned, he stumbled backwards and fell to the floor, pulling me along with him until Stiles wrapped his arms around me and yanked me to the side.

Before anything else could happen, Stiles grabbed my hand and angrily stomped back towards the others.

"What the hell was that?" he yelled at me, "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"I was just trying to get over _you_!" I bit back sharply and he stood back, his face shocked and slightly hurt for a second. The angry expression subsided and he rubbed my goose-bump covered arms. I wasn't cold, just rattled from what had just happened.

"Promise me you won't do anything like that again", Stiles murmured softly to me, staring directly into my eyes with a serious expression. I nodded, not being able to form a sentence while he looked at me like that.

"I still care about you, Lydia… I still _love_ you, but…" he looked down at the ground with sad eyes.

"I need to pack before we leave", I interrupted and pushed past him to get into one of the taxis they had standing by. I didn't want to hear how he couldn't be with me, not again. It hurt too much the first time.


	30. Chapter 30

_I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long! I have had trouble uploading until now and so I couldn't. I wrote to the end of this story though and so it will all be put up together :)_

The first three days back at school were pretty much like how it was between me and stiles in freshman year - I had been rejected by him and we didn't even speak. The only difference was that I didn't hate him. I loved him. He didn't avoid the group this time but while with them, he didn't talk to me. It infuriated me how he could tell me he still loved me but not even try to be my friend.

Each night i spent without him, I imagined stiles going out partying with hundreds of girls and not missing me at all.

It was Wednesday morning, about 4 days after the breakup, and it still hurt like it had only just happened. I dragged myself out of bed and had a quick shower. I then slumped down the stairs and sat silently at the kitchen table staring at the clock, ready to leave as soon as it hit8:00am.

My mom trotted down the stairs not long after I sat down, like she always did, "No coffee this morning?" She grinned playfully at me. I didn't answer. "Everything okay, sweetheart? You've been acting weird since you got back", she pulled out the chair next to me and perched on the end.

"I don't want to talk about it", I sighed, attempting to get up but she placed a hand on my knee to stop me.

"If I can remember one thing I was grateful of my parents for when I was younger, it's when they made me talk. Even if I didn't want to, so sit down", she jerked her eyes, directing me back to my seat.

Even though I had every right to walk out of that room and not say a word, I sat back down anyway. Maybe I really did want to talk about it.

"When I went on holiday, I didn't expect stiles to go", I began and she nodded her head, telling me to continue. "I've liked him for ages, since freshman year pretty much. Well, I liked him in freshman year and then hated him until recently but still..." I rambled. My mom didn't stop me or rush me even though she had work and I had school. She just listened "and while on holiday, we shared a room and a flight. We ended up starting something", I grinned at the memory.

"Starting what?" My mom smiled softly and I looked up at her, my memory turning sad as I remembered me and stiles weren't together anymore.

"A relationship", I told her, "he called me his girlfriend and everything and he bought me things and took me out to dinner and it was great. The best time of my life", I felt tears drip down my face and I was thankful I hadn't bothered with make up today.

"What happened?" She furrowed her eyebrows. It was obvious something had happened from how sad I was about it.

"He was taking me out to dinner on one of the days but he got an email, well technically his dad did but he follows his dad's emails because he's worried about him. Anyway, the email was from the hospital and stiles told me he's had them before and he still hasn't payed the bill" I bit my trembling lip.

"Maybe he's waiting on his pay day. He's the sheriff, shouldn't he be covered?" She questioned.

"Obviously not", I shrugged, "and I tried to get him to stay at the hotel and eat dinner there but he insisted on taking me out", I rolled my eyes and she smiled at me, "at first it was okay, I could feel a tension but it was okay. When the bill came though, he got mad at me for wanting to pay it. I had never seen him like that before"

"Sweetheart, he's a guy. He obviously didn't want his ego bruised", she joked, trying to get me to laugh with her but I didn't.

"He apologised later and everything was fine that night", I wiped the, now cold, tears off my cheeks and more hot ones starting dripping out. "Then he started to get really weird about money and it was like he had to buy me everything. It was really bad, I couldn't even look at things with him around"

"You could have just told him that. He just loves you and wanted to treat you like a princess, it's sweet", she placed her hand on top of mine. I then realised that she thought I had broken it off with him. That I was the reason we weren't together anymore.

"Mom, he dumped me", I frowned and her eyes widened in surprise. Before she could talk, I continued to explain everything, "he said he needed to talk to me, showed me an email of an eviction threaten and then broke up with me. He said he didn't want us to grow up and not have a house or anything because of his money problems", I broke down and she pulled me against her, hugging me and shushing me soothingly.

"Honey, if it's being alone you afraid of then don't worry. Breakups happen all the time and you can still hang out with Kira's group, I know you like her and Malia. Eventually you will find someone special to make you happy, she whispered, stroking my hair.

"I don't want to find someone else. I was happy with him, even thing was perfect with him", I shook my head and sighed, not being able to explain exactly how I felt with words.

"You really feel like that?" She smiled at me as if she had only just realised I wasn't a small child anymore. I nodded, glancing at the time. We were both going to be late but she didn't look like she cared. "Have you told him?"

"I haven't even talked to him since we came back", I ran my fingers through my hair.

"Do you clean your room without me asking?" She suddenly changed the subject and I started at her in confusion. She raised her eyebrows, waiting for an answer.

"No", I replied, slowly and she nodded.

"When you need to go to the bathroom at school, what do you do?" She asked and I continued to remain confused.

"Tell the teacher..." I answered, frowning at her.

"Exactly. Sitting there and wanting something doesn't get it for you", she folded her arms in a 'I'm about to give you important advice' kind of way, "but going after something. Fighting for it. That could get you what you're after". She spoke in a tone that showed she knew she was being helpful to me. And she was.

"I have to get to work", she sighed, glancing over at the clock, "get to school, sweetheart"

"Mom", I called out as she made her way to the door. She turner to face me again, her eyebrows slightly raised. "Thanks", I smiled. I didn't say anything else; I didn't know what else I could say. But I could tell it was enough. She nodded shortly and then continued out of the door.

I thought heavily over what she said as I walked to school. I spent the whole journey arguing with myself, constantly changing my mind over what I was going to do. By the time I got there, I had eventually decided on talking to him. My mom was right; if I wanted him I couldn't just sit back and let him go. I had to fight for him.

Like anticipated, I was late to school. Everyone was already inside as I headed to English and I ignored the scolding from my English teacher as I raced into the room and found my usual seat. Since being back, stiles swapped seats with someone so that he was at the back of the room, away from me. Instead of doing any of the work, I formed a conversation in my head. I couldn't talk to stiles as school - too much of an audience so I had all day to come up with something.

The rest of the day went on as normal. I hung out with the others at lunch, stiles avoiding eye contact and not saying a word to me. The end of the day drew nearer and I started to get anxiety, panicking over the possible outcomes.

I sat in biology, the last lesson of the day, thinking about just going home and sulking like normal. No, I had to talk to him. I walked out slowly after the bell went and I watched his jeep drive out of the school so I knew he would definitely get home before me. I walked straight towards his house.

Rain stared to drip down onto my face. Perfect. It got heavier and I felt my hair drooping against my shoulders. I breathed out a nervous, shaky sigh as the front door to stiles' house came into view. The jeep was parked outside on the drive and luckily, his dad's car was nowhere to be seen. I crossed the road, veering for the house.

I briefly looked through the window as I came towards the door. I couldn't see anyone but the lights were on so I sucked in as much as as I could before knocking. I had a feeling I wasn't going to be able to breathe very well when he opened the door. After three knocks and a five minute wait, the door swung open. A perfect face with amazing whiskey eyes was revealed and like I had expected, my breath was sucked out.

"Lydia?" His eyes widened in surprise and he swallowed hard before opening the door wider and stretching out an arm, inviting me inside.


	31. Chapter 31

I shuffled nervously on my feet as stiles shut the front door behind me. I glanced around briefly, making sure that nobody else was home apart from stiles. I hadn't seen his dad's car but I just wanted to be sure the lights upstairs were off and nobody else seemed to be downstairs, so I assumed I was safe. Stiles turned to face me, roaming his eyes over me with a concerned expression.

"Are you okay? You must be freezing", he reached out to rub my arms but stopped himself, instead taking off his jacket and handing it over to me as if he has to remind himself we weren't together anymore. I took it, nodding at him in thanks. I was in fact freezing from getting wet.

"I wanted to talk to you", I finally brought myself to say and he didn't seem surprised. Like he had been expecting it sooner or later.

"Yeah, I wanted to talk to you too", he nodded, placing his hand gently on my lower back and slightly pressing, softly pushing me, guiding me towards the other room.

I sat down on the sofa, feeling small in the big room. He sat down next to me and I turned to face him, my eyes already starting to well with tears and I hadn't even started speaking yet. Great start, Lydia.

"Do you want me to go first?", he furrowed his eyebrows, wiping a stray tear off my cheek with his thumb. My skin burned where he touched me and I shook my head.

"I need to talk while i still can, before I convince myself not to. I need to say this now", I told him and he nodded, waiting patiently for me to start.

"Someone told me that when you want something, you have to go for it. You can't just sit back and expect it to come to you, you have to fight for it", I started, mentally thanking my mom for putting those words in my head. For giving me something to start with. Otherwise I would be lost.

"Lydia..." He gazed into my eyes, his eyes nothing more than a sad frown as he soaked in what I was saying. His lips however, had a ghost of a smile on them for some reason.

"No, I'm finishing", I interrupted. He nodded again. "I love you stiles and it's completely your fault. I love everything about you: your hair, your eyes, your smile, your sense of humour, the way you walk, your voice, everything!" I panted, catching my breath from the emphasis I put into that one sentence. "And I'll be damned if I just let you get away when you make me feel the way I do. I don't care about money-"

"Lydia, I-" he tried to cut in again.

"Stiles let me finish!" I yelled slightly louder than I had meant to. He was taken aback, speechless. I breathed out again, calming myself slightly. "You're right, we could end up in a cardboard box on the edge of the street in the future, no money and no food" I breathed out and he furrowed his eyebrows, not understanding my tactics for getting him back. "But", I stood up off the chair, feeling a surge of confidence as l looked down at him, "we could also end up in a mansion in Hollywood. You down know what will happen in the future and as long as I'm with you and as long as I'm happy, which I know I will be, I don't care what happens" I finished.

He stood up too and my confidence drained slightly as he towered over me. "You're still coming to the game of Friday aren't you?" He asked. I shrank even more from that answer. I had just poured my feelings to him and all he could do was ask me if I was coming to a freaking game.

"What?" I answered exasperatedly, blinking rapidly in confusion and irritation.

"Are you still coming to the game? Coming to support me?" He asked again, a small smile playing on his lips. What did this mean? We're we okay now?

"If you want me too", I sighed, coming to the conclusion that it was the best I was going to get and that I could work out the rest later. His smile widened and he stepped towards me, raking his fingers gently through my hair and tilting my head so that I was looking up into his eyes.

"Good", he whispered against my lips as he drew nearer. My breath faltered and he knew it. His lips twisted into a smirk as my eyes starting to close involuntarily, "I love you too", he murmured and my drifting eyes shot open again.

"You... You do?" I stuttered and he laughed at my level of surprise.

"I thought that much was obvious. You make me crazy, Lydia" he shook his head, blushing from the comment. And now it was my turn to grin.

"Good", I mimicked his deep, husky whisper and a large, throaty laugh erupted from him. He quickly blushed deeper in embarrassment from it, making me want him more than ever before.

I planted my lips onto his, kissing him before he could kiss me. I wanted to be the one to kiss him this time - he was always kissing me first. He was surprised at first but he quickly melted into it, pulling me against him. We stayed like that for a while, drawn into each other, frenzied hands and missed contact. Eventually, we pulled away, panting and content.

"What were you going to say?" I asked out of curiosity, remembering he had wanted to talk to me too.

"The same as you, pretty much. That if you were happy to deal with a poor jerk like me, I was willing to try again", he smiled against my cheek, placing a small kiss there.

"Well, I guess you're stuck with me then", I giggled and his smile widened as he stepped back from me.

"Wanna watch a movie?" He smiled and I nodded, jumping back on the sofa as he turned Netflix on.


	32. Chapter 32

_This is the last part to this story, I hope you've enjoyed it all! :D I will be doing another Stydia story soon so keep a look out for that one (If you want to read it) Thank you for reading and ENJOY! :D_

"Tell stiles good luck for me", Allison chirped as I skyped her through my phone while sat in my car. I was waiting in the school car park for kira's car to pull in, waiting to see stiles' game. Although I wasn't going to admit it to him, I was nervous for him. I noticed on his Thursday practice that he hadn't been doing his best and I knew he took these games really seriously.

"Will do. Tell Isaac I said hey", I drew the conversation to an end as I watched Kira roll around the corner.

"Will do" she grinned, "talk to me soon, I missed you while you were on holiday" she poked her tongue out at me and I did the same.

"I will, don't worry. I missed you too, bye ally", I waved and she waved back. We both ended the call at the same time and then I exited the car, heading towards Kira and Malia.

"Hey Lyds, excited?", Kira beamed and Malia rolled her eyes. She didn't get the point in these games if the school didn't even win anything from them. Kira however, loved them. I was normal in the middle but I was excited if Stiles was.

"Yeah", I beamed, "so let's get to the field before we miss it all", I laughed and we all stalked our way to the field.

We found some benches and filed in, Malia first and me last. I immediately gazed my eyes across the field, looking for the number '24'. I found him next to Scott, number '11'. They were chatting and laughing about something and just seeing him smile made my nerves ease. He was clearly quite confident about this.

It didn't take long for the game to come to a start. Coach yelled and screamed at his team as usual, cursing the other team, whenever they scored. The teams were drawing, 6:6. There was only 2 minutes until the end of the game. I bit my lip as stiles got the ball, watching him cross the field and dodge past the defenders with ease. He made it to the net, pulling back his arm to shoot. My mouth fell open slightly in anticipation and everything seemed to go into slow motion as he flung his stick forward. The ball travelled through the air, missing the goalies stick and heading straight into net.

I stood up, squealing in excitement before I could stop myself. Kira joined me, jumping up too and even Malia was cheering from her seat. Stiles pulled off his helmet and found my gaze as his teammates praised him, slapping his shoulders and bumping into each other in happiness. I smiled broadly at him, clapping my hands together and I could see his mouth turning up in an amazing, triumphant grin.

I exited the row and ran down the steps towards the field, dodging past girls doing the same for their boyfriends. I didn't care about them though. I could only see stiles, everything else was a blur. I jumped into his arms, wrapping my legs around his hips and hugging him tightly.

"You were amazing!" I told him honestly and his grin, somehow, got even bigger.

"No, you're amazing", he replied. I stared down at him for a second, completely loved up right then. I leaned down against him, still being caressed in his arms. Our lips touched and he held me tighter. My arms wrapped around the back of his neck.

A couple of his teammates wolf whistled as we kissed but we didn't stop. Normally I would have been so embarrassed and probably wouldn't have even kissed him like this is the first place. Maybe it was the adrenaline from the win. Or maybe, I was just so into stiles that I didn't care what anybody else thought. Yeah, that's the one.


End file.
